What Could've Been
by FFBeast626
Summary: Naruto gets pushed to his limit early on in life. The same could be said for Sasuke. Follow along as both go through hardships that test their sanity. The two have to rely on each other to prevent the darkness that could have been. More mature, God-like Naruto. Good Sasuke, probably also God-like or close to it. May have some pairing(s) later on in the story, but no yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

**Starting over from the beginning with this one, hopefully ill pull it off better this go-round. I just had a wave of inspiration to start again. Still gonna be a darker Naruto fic, just changing my plot around a bit. Naruto will likely be god-like in this story, so if you dont approve, leave. Anyways if you made it this far, i hope you enjoy the story as is develops.**

**By the way, I should mention I dont own Naruto. Or anything else for that matter. I dont even own a computer, so how the fuck am I typing this?!  
**

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He had just about had enough. He lived his entire life in misery. 8 years with no friends. 8 years with no family. In 8 years, only 3 people had shown him any semblance of anything but hatred. 8 years of being beaten to within an inch of his life too many times to count. 6 years of living in an orphanage, being treated worse than all of the other kids. 2 years of living completely alone in an apartment, being robbed and vandalized nearly every day. 2 years of having to survive out of the trash, because his monthly allowance from the Hokage wasn't enough to pay for rent _and_ food. 3 years of being ridiculed by the other kids his age. 4 years of complete and utter hell, even though he is solely responsible for keeping the Kyuubi from destroying Konoha (Even though he didn't know that yet). The worst part of it all, was that he didn't know _why. Why they looked at him as if he were the scum of the earth. Why they would randomly jump him and beat him until he prayed for death. Why nobody, not even the 1 person he thought actually cared for him, would do anything to help him. _

Sure he could act happy around people. He would never give those _bastards _the satisfaction of knowing they were getting to him. He took it all with a smile, held his head high, acted like it didn't bother him; but behind closed doors, he was falling apart at the hinges. There were the 3 people in his life that didn't outwardly abuse him. The 3rd Hokage, though he was always too busy to show much kindness either. Then there was his academy instructor for the last couple of months, Umino Iruka, though he was never outwardly nice either. At least he would stop the other kids and instructors before things got _too_ out of hand. However the only person who had _ever_ been even remotely nice to him was a girl his age with lavender hair and white eyes, Hyuga Hinata. One time a couple of years ago, the girl had tried to stop some older kids from beating him, but then she was drug away by an older teenager who had black hair and the same white eyes. Another Hyuga he assumed, though he didn't know his name.

Every since that day Hinata had at least tried to be kind to him, though she never succeeded, rather it be because of the other students, or some random Hyuga, she was never able to talk to him like she wanted to. _Like he wanted her to._ As the days went by, the misery continued, and young Naruto kept his fake smile on, trying to tell himself it would get better soon. All of this continued until one faithful day, October 10th to be exact, when Naruto decided to try and have some fun for once on his birthday and go to the festival the village held every year. He wasn't sure really what the festival was about, something about a fox or something, but he figured that everyone would be too caught up in the festivities to care about him. So once the festival began he got dressed and headed out to enjoy himself.

Naruto was walking through the streets of Konoha trying to figure out what he wanted to do, when suddenly he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. "What the fuck do you think you're doing here, demon!" Yelled the irate villager who threw the beer bottle.

Like all the times before, Naruto started to run away from the assailant. "Stop it! I didn't do anything to any of you!" He shouted as he ran as fast as he could, with the crowd behind him growing.

"You killed my wife demon! You've tortured our families 9 years too long!" Yelled a chunin, who appeared to be about 30, as he pulled out a kunai and threw it at Naruto.

By luck alone, Naruto managed to dodge said kunai. Naruto continued running, all the while being pelted by rocks and beer bottles, until finally he came to a dead end in a clearing just outside of the village, but still within the walls.

"HAH! Looks like this is the end for you fox demon!" Said a man in the mob as he stepped forward, revealing himself to be a shinobi in his teens.

"I'm not a demon though! I have never hurt any-" Naruto said as he was punched in the face by said shinobi, knocking him to the ground.

"SHUT UP! You killed my father, my mother told me it was you!"

"No I didn't I promise!"

At this point the teenager walked up and kicked him in the ribs, sending him rolling across the ground. Apparently the rest of the mob took this as the cue to start, as they all proceeded to start beating on him. Some even started to stab him with kitchen knives and even kunai.

Naruto was sure this time would finally kill him, and he started to just sob uncontrollably before the world around him went dark.

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He suddenly found himself standing ankle deep in water, in what appeared to be a prison, or a dungeon. He looked around trying to figure out where he was at as he heard a voice more sinister than anything he had ever heard say "**You are angry. You wish for blood. This is good. Embrace the blood lust.**" as a large pair of bloodshot eyes and savage looking teeth appeared from behind the vertical bars that separated him from the absolute darkness. "**Rejoice in the hatred that courses through your veins. I will give you a small taste of my power, destroy the ones who harm you. We will meet again soon.**"

Naruto suddenly found himself back on the ground, still being beaten, though the wounds he had obtained earlier stopped hurting and he could no longer feel the current blows. He felt power. He felt _deadly. _He was more powerful than ever before, and he knew it; judging by the look on the villager's faces, they knew it as well. They looked at him in sheer terror as they started backing up and yelled "What are you?!"

"I have **been called **many things… **death… terror… **a nightmare… a demon… **the Kyuubi… **But today, you shall know me as **the judge, jury, and executioner.**" Said Naruto as he stared down the mob of villagers with slitted red eyes. The villagers looked back and felt killing intent like they had never felt before. It was so strong that most pissed their pants, while some simply fainted.

A red shroud of chakra had formed around Naruto, and took the shape of a fox with one tail, as Naruto's features became more feral.

All of the civilians who hadn't fainted started running away, hoping that they may live to see another day, while the shinobi for the most part stuck around.

"See! You're nothing but a damn demon! Now DIE!" Yelled a chunin in the group as he went through some hand seals. "Katon: Fireball jutsu!" He inhaled a deep breath before exhaling, blowing out a ball of fire towards Naruto, who just stood there as the fireball enveloped him.

"YES! I DID IT! I FINALLY KILLED THE DEMON CHILD!" Yelled the chunin as the fireball rolled over Naruto.

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"Hokage-sama! Do you feel that?!" Said a dog masked ANBU that just burst through the door into the Hokage's office.

"Yes Kakashi, gather everyone you can and meet me there, I fear the foolish villagers may have finally pushed Naruto-kun too far."

"Hai." Said the ANBU, now identified as Kakashi as he shunshinned away.

"_I sure hope the seal is still intact, and that those fools haven't doomed us all." _Thought Hiruzen, the aged Sandaime Hokage, as he stood up and leapt out the window towards the massive chakra source.

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"**Pathetic." **Growled the demonic voice of Naruto as the fireball dissipated around him.

The chunin who launched the fireball now completely voided his bowls as he started to back away, before falling down. "H-H-How the hell?" he said as he continued trying to back away.

"Now let **me show you **a real fire**ball.**" Said Naruto as he inhaled a deep breath, before releasing it, blowing out a stream of fire the size of a greyhound bus. The fireball surrounded half of the remaining crowd that wasn't quick enough to get out of the way, the fireball guy included.

"What the fuck are you?!" Yelled another one of the shinobi.

"**Why, **don't you remember, **I'm a demon,** you're the one **who called me that** just a moment ago."

Said shinobi didn't even get the chance to reply as Naruto shot his left arm out, with a red chakra arm extending from it, as the chakra arm grabbed the man around his head and squeezed, showering the area in blood. The man's body dropped to the ground, and now the others had seen enough, as they all turned tail to run.

"I don't **think so." **Said Naruto as a wall of flames shot up from the ground, blocking the path of the fleeing shinobi. "**Consider this **your payback for **8 years of hell."**

"Please don't! We're sorry!" Yelled out one of the shinobi in the group.

"Were you sorry **all those times when **you were **beating me?**When **I prayed for death, **just **so the pain would stop?! FUCK NO! You are all pitiful excuses of life forms, and you make me sick!" **Shouted Naruto as the chakra and killing intent spiked even higher, making a few of the remaining people faint.

"But-"

"**SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO SPEAK IN MY PRESENCE!"**

At this point, another tail formed on Naruto's chakra cloak, as his eyes turned completely red. Several black and white balls then shot out from Naruto's body and started to swirl together infront of his mouth, and the air around him became much denser, to the point that the people in the mob could no longer breathe.

All of the remaining villagers stared on in fear, trying to catch a breath as they lost control of their bodily functions, while a small black ball formed infront of Naruto's mouth.

Naruto grinned from ear to ear in a creepy fashion as he swallowed the ball. Nothing happened for a second, and then all of a sudden he fired out a beam of the dark looking chakra twice the size of his fireball earlier. He started at one side and swept the whole field that was within his fire barrier, decimating everything inside it.

As soon as the dust cleared, the wall of flames died down, and Hiruzen leapt into the crater that used to be the clearing known as training ground 4.

"Naruto-kun!" He shouted as Naruto locked his attention on the man. Just then a voice rang out over the clearing "Katon: Fire Dragon Missile!"

A large sized fire dragon raged out of the mouth of a boar masked anbu who just leapt in. Naruto turned from Hiruzen to the fire dragon and simply stuck out his hand towards the attack.

Hiruzen's eyes went wide as the attack neared Naruto, thinking that the boy he looked at as a grandson was about to die.

The fire dragon crashed into Naruto's outstretched hand, before coming to a complete stop. Both the Hokage and Boar were shocked at this, at least until the dragon turned around and enveloped the ANBU. Once the fire died down, all that remained of Boar was his mask.

Naruto then turned back to the aged Hokage and said "Jiji… I'm sorry… they tried to kill me, they made me do this!" as the chakra shroud started to fade.

It was then that several more ANBU leapt into the clearing as well, throwing several kunai and shuriken at Naruto.

The chakra around him suddenly lashed out and stopped all the weapons dead in their tracks. **"LEAVE ME ALONE GODDAMMIT! I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU PEOPLE! I JUST WANNA BE HAPPY!"**

"ANBU! Stand down!" Shouted Hiruzen as he shunshinned to between Naruto and the ANBU.

"No disrespect Hokage-sama, but he is a threat, and should be killed." Said an ANBU with a monkey mask.

"I SAID STAND DOWN!" Roared Hiruzen as he released his own killer intent.

The ANBU immediately stood from their fighting stances and took a step back out of fear.

Seeing this, the chakra cloak around Naruto disappeared, as he fell to the ground unconscious.

Hiruzen then walked over and scooped Naruto up in his arms before turning towards the ANBU. "Clean this mess up and then you are dismissed" he said as he and Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

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**Thanks for reading, and as i said earlier, i changed a few things from the original if any of you have read it before. Let me know what you guys think, i like to see good reviews, rather they are positive or negative. They help me better my writing, and make me happy; and the happier i am, the quicker I update.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter, Naruto learns his true identity. It comes a bit earlier than in canon or the original breaking point, but dammit a kid should know of his parents! This chapter again mainly focuses on building up to the plot, so i hope you enjoy.**

**Review replies**

**Namikaze10: Honestly im not sure yet, it could be anyone, or even a harem story. All i know is there will be no yaoi. And ill take your suggestion in mind.**

**SinOfDisaster: Naruto will become slightly darker in general (but just to those who deserve it) due to some future events, but not dark to the point of killing anything that breathes.**

**Killua17: Nope, not broke yet. (insert devious smile here) but he wont be just a mindless killing machine in this story.**

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Flashback; 9 years ago.

"_We should kill it now! Before it has a chance to regain power and finish the job!" Shouted one of the civilian council members._

"_You should know that our Yondaime was the best fuinjutsu user in the world, there is no chance of the demon breaking out of Naruto." Replied the Sandaime._

"_Perhaps when he becomes of age, I could train him to control the foxes power?" Suggested Danzo._

"_No you will not turn Naruto-kun into one of your mindless ROOT agents."_

"Damn" _Thought Danzo._

"_I agree with Haruno, the demon should be killed!" Said another of the civilian council._

"_Naruto-kun will not be harmed! Our beloved Yondaime sacrificed his life and child for you and wants him seen as a hero, yet you bastardize his desires already!" Shouted the Sandaime, silencing the requests for death and imprisonment. "Furthermore, if any of you tell anyone of his 'tenant' or heritage, you will be put to death. I want him to grow up like a normal child."_

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Currently, Hokage's office

"_Oh how I wish I could've been more help to you Naruto-kun. You are a hero every day, with the blood of a Hokage inside of you, yet they treat you like shit. I wish I could make it up to you. Well maybe…" _Thought Hiruzen as he looked at the unconscious form of Naruto on the couch beside his desk.

Finally after about an hour, Naruto began to stir before sitting up. "Where am… Jiji! Oh God I'm sorry! I didn't want to hurt anyone but they made me!" he said as he started to sob again. "I don't even know what happened… I was just so scared, and then a scary set of eyes told me to 'use their power' to stop the hurting!"

Hiruzen was quite shocked when Naruto mentioned the 'scary set of eyes with power', wondering if Naruto meant the Kyuubi. He got up from his desk and walked over to the couch to sit beside Naruto.

"Shh shh… It's okay Naruto-kun."

"But Jiji, I killed them… so many people died because of me tonight."

"They deserved it for treating you the way they did, you are supposed to be a hero."

"What do you mean Jiji?"

"_Sigh._ I was going to wait until you were older, but I have some things to tell you and now seems to be a good a time as any."

"What is it Jiji?"

"Well, one night, 9 years ago…" Hiruzen proceeded to tell Naruto what happened that night, about his 'tenant', and finally that the one who sealed said demon into him, was his father. Yep, the Yondaime Hokage was Naruto's dad.

Naruto was so shocked from all this information that he fainted again. It took Hiruzen nearly 20 minutes to wake Naruto back up before they started talking about what Naruto now knew.

"So… I really am a demon, like everyone said."

"No Naruto-kun, you are not a demon, you just hold one. Watch this." Hiruzen said as he got up and walked over to his desk and retrieved a storage scroll and a kunai. He came back to Naruto and opened the scroll "You see, this is a scroll, You, and this kunai." As he held up the kunai "Is the Kyuubi." He laid the kunai onto the scroll and channeled some chakra as the scroll absorbed the kunai into it. "So, is this now a kunai?" he said as he held up the scroll with the word 'kunai' in the center.

"No… its still a scroll."

"Exactly. Just as having a kunai sealed in the scroll doesn't make the scroll a kunai; you having a demon sealed inside of you doesn't make you a demon."

Naruto let a small genuine smile show now "Thanks Jiji." He said as he hugged the old man.

"It was your right to know, Naruto-kun. I was a fool for hiding it this long. Now before you go, I have some things for you." Said Hiruzen as he walked over to his desk and did some handseals before slamming his hand onto the desk.

Now underneath his hand was a chest with a spiral pattern surrounded by a chain of 3 pronged kunai.

"Cool Jiji, what is that?" Asked a wide eyed Naruto.

"This, Naruto-kun, is your inheritance, left to you by your father. It contains all of his jutsu scrolls, as well as the Uzumaki clan techniques. Both he and your mother left you a letter in there as well. The chest itself was designed with a seal so that no one but you and me can even touch the box, and only you can open it."

Naruto was now near the point of fainting once more as he looked at the box.

"Now Naruto-kun, it will probably be a while before you are advanced enough to learn most of the jutsu, but I will help you along whenever I can." Said Hiruzen as he pulled out a small card from his desk.

"What is that Jiji?"

"This is a card made from chakra paper, if you channel some chakra into it, it will tell you your elemental affinity." Hiruzen then explained elemental manipulation to Naruto who absorbed the information like it was ramen, before handing Naruto the card.

Naruto took the card and channeled some chakra to it, before it split in half.

"Ahh, Fuuton, a rather rare-" Hiruzen started but then stopped as one half of the paper caught fire while the other crinkled up. At this point his eyes went wide. After all, even a jonin having 3 affinities was kind of rare, it was unheard of for a genin, no, an academy student.

"So what does that mean Jiji?"

That shook Hiruzen out of his shock, before he answered "Umm… It means you have an affinity for Fuuton, Katon, and Raiton. That is good, because most jonin don't even have 3 affinities."

"Wow! Im gonna be a super awesome ninja one day!"

"Possibly, but don't let that go to your head Naruto-kun" _Dear God this kid will be an animal by 12 if he gets proper training._

"I won't Jiji, I know it takes hard work to be strong, so that's what I'll do. Except I don't really have anyone to help me…" He said with a frown at the end.

Hiruzen thought about that for a moment before he stood up and made a cross hand seal and 20 copies of himself appeared in the room. He then pulled out a storage scroll and sealed all of the clones into it before handing it to Naruto. "Those clones are called kagebunshins, they are solid clones capable of independent thought; they can be used for a variety of purposes, including training, fighting, and spying. You can take that scroll and unseal a clone whenever you need help training."

"Thanks Jiji!"

"You're welcome Naruto-kun. How about I show you to your new home now?"

"Okay!"

Hiruzen walked over to a blank spot on the wall before doing some hand seals and touching his hand to the wall. To Naruto's surprise, a seal array appeared on the wall before the pair disappeared.

The next thing Naruto knew, he was standing in the middle of a large room, that appeared to be the living room of a mansion.

"Where are we at Jiji?" Naruto asked, and Hiruzen just smiled.

"Your home Naruto-kun. Like the box, this place is full of seals, so that it is hidden from everyone. The only entrance is through my office, or the Hiraishin technique, which is one of the ones your dad left you, but it will likely take you years to learn, as your father is the only person who ever used that jutsu." Hiruzen then showed Naruto the hand seals to transport between place to place.

"So Naruto-kun, do you need anything else?"

"No Jiji, I think im just gonna go to bed. I've got a lot to think about."

"Okay Naruto-kun, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Goodnight Jiji."

With that, Hiruzen left, and Naruto began to search his new home. After acquainting himself with the house he went upstairs and quickly drifted off to sleep.

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**Shorter than what i normally write, but i felt that it was a good place to stop. I hope you all enjoyed it. I appreciate all comments, they help better me(as long as it's not just flaming.) even if its problems with the plot ill take the readers reviews into consideration the best i can. And remember, the more reviews i get, the better my moral is, and the better my morale is, the quicker ill update.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Uhhh… Dammit shut up… Shh! Go to hell!" Shouted Naruto as his fist smashed down, and through, his alarm clock. It was time to get up for another day at the academy, but after all Naruto went through last night he didn't want to go. He grumbled a bit more as he crawled out of bed, knowing that he'd be in trouble if he missed.

After taking a shower and eating his breakfast that consisted of instant ramen cups, he left home en route to another day of boring learning and assholes, there would definitely be assholes.

No sooner than Naruto got out of sight of the Hokage's office, the glares and curses set in.

"Fucking demon… shoulda killed you 9 years ago."

"Monster"

"Devil"

This upset the young Naruto of course, but he was used it, as long as they didn't hit him he could ignore it.

The verbal abuse continued all the way to the academy and even then, most of the instructors hated him as well.

Naruto finally arrived at his class to find he was only the 3rd person here, so he checked his watch "_6:40 what the hell I'm 20 minutes early!"_ this was rather odd for him, considering he normally didn't arrive until right at 7:00 when classes began. Since he had a while to kill he figured he would try to make conversation with the other 2 students; the lavender haired white haired girl, Hinata Hyuga, and the black haired black eyed boy, Sasuke Uchiha.

"Good morning guys."

"Morning." Was Sasuke's only reply. (**Hey, better than 'hmph', right**)

"G-G-Good M-Morning, Naruto-kun." Replied the shy Hyuga.

"How are you guys?"

"Good. I just wish I didn't have to be here so I could do some real training." Sasuke replied

"I know how you feel. I have better things to learn than 'The History of Shinobi Sandals: Why they are open toed.'" Naruto said, getting a small chuckle from both other students.

Little did the 3 students know, they had just started a bond that would carry them far in life. Sasuke was normally impartial to Naruto, as his parents weren't part of the 'Lynch Naruto Club'; Hinata actually had a crush on him.

"_I kind of like that kid, I wonder why everyone else looks at him with such dis-" _Sasuke started thinking before he was interrupted by a crash. He looked towards the door, where the noise came from, to see a pink haired girl laying on top of a blonde. "SASUKE-KUN!" shouted the pink haired girl with a voice that would make a banshee pale. "Hah! I was here first I get to sit by him Ino-pig!" The pink haired girl shouted at the blond.

"You wish Sakura-fivehead!" yelled the blond, in a slightly less aweful voice.

"Hey! Move fathead _I'M_ sitting next to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura now directed her eardrum splitting noise maker at Naruto.

"Umm… I was here first." Said Naruto calmly.

"I don't give a damn! My mom is on the council and she says you're a worthless bastard so move!"

"Hey I-" Naruto began but was cut off by Sasuke "Hey you pink haired, loud mouthed banshee, I don't care if your mom is the freaking Hokage, you won't talk to him like that anymore."

"_Huh… did he just… stick up for me?" _Naruto thought.

"S-Sasuke-kun…"

"Don't call me –kun you sorry waste of breath. Naruto has never done anything to you yet you come in here insulting him."

"B-But I…"

"Please shut up and leave me alone." Now the Uchiha weren't known as the nicest of clans around, but still they didn't try to cause trouble and insult people without reason.

Sakura then sulked off away from Sasuke and Naruto with tears in her eyes "_Bastard… how could I have ever cared for that ass?" __**"Because he's freaking HOT! That's why! **_Inner Sakura replied to her.

"Wow… Thanks Sasuke, no one's ever stood up for me like that before."

"Don't mention it, I kind of like you and she has no reason to speak to you like she did." Said the Uchiha with a smirk.

"EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Said a new voice as the class suddenly turned to the front of the room to see Iruka standing there.

"Okay then, now that I have everyone's attention, today we will be discussing the reason why all ninja shoes are open toed."

There was a loud 'thump' heard from one corner of the room where Naruto and Sasuke's heads were now implanted into their table.

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1 week later

Naruto had spent the last week, when he wasn't at school, reading over his parents' scrolls. He saw many things in there he wanted to learn, but like Hiruzen had said, most were too difficult. One in particular though caught his eye, so he proceeded to learn it, and it only took him a few hours to do so. It was one that his father actually recommended that he learn early on, as it would help with learning other things, as well as chakra capacity(as if he needed more) and chakra control slightly. It was called the Kagebunshin, or shadow clone, and it made solid copies of himself, that could fight or train or whatever, and then once dispelled he would gain their memories. This meant that he could now make a clone read a book and it would be as if he read it himself.

While at school, Naruto had continued to talk to Sasuke and Hinata, further solidifying their friendship. Naruto hadn't really noticed yet, but befriending the heirs of the 2 most respected clans in Konoha had actually made some people stop their hated glares and curses, though most still did it.

The other kids had also started seeing him differently, starting to doubt the word of their parents. Naruto seemed like a good, normal kid. He seemed friendly enough with the Hyuga and Uchiha, and most now remembered that he had never been anything but nice to them. His only flaw was that he used to be a little on the loud side, but now he seemed to have calmed down. Well that, and his choice of clothing was plain atrocious.

Sakura still hasn't tried to speak to Sasuke again since his 'talk' with her last week, in fact, most of the girls now only admired him from a distance.

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"RING RING RING sigh"

Naruto sighed as he rolled out of bed and started getting ready for another day. He quickly went through his normal routine before heading off to school, ignoring the comments of most of the villagers as normal before arriving at school.

As was usual the last week, he was the third to arrive.

"Hey guys, morning." He said as he walked in and sat in his normal seat between Sasuke and Hinata.

"Morning."/"G-Good morning, N-Naruto-kun."

"So guess what I learned, and I think you'll love it Sasuke."

"What is it?"

"Well, it's called the Kagebunshin no jutsu."

"Clones? What's so special about a clone?"

"Kagebunshin no jutsu." Naruto said with his hands in the cross seal, before a clone appeared and slapped Sasuke in the head before laughing and then dispelling itself.

"What the hell was that- wait… did that clone just physically hit me?"

"Yep."

"Freakin sweet. Teach me?"

"Sure. Hinata-chan, do you wanna learn it to?"

"N-No thank you, I don't think my family wouldn't approve of it."

"Okay then…" Naruto then proceeded to warn Sasuke of the intense chakra drainage, before teaching him the technique.

"Kagebunshin no jutsu." Sasuke said as a clone appeared beside him.

"Now here's the cool part." Naruto said before leading the clone away and whispering something to it, before punching it in the face to dispel it.

"Hey screw you!" Sasuke said as he heard the insult Naruto said to the clone. "Wait… you said that to him, how do I know it?"

"The memories of your clones will be transferred to you when they dispel."

"Really? That's sweet!"

"EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Said Iruka as the class suddenly became quiet.

"Okay. Today, we will be learning about the history of kunai."

2 loud sighs were heard from Naruto and Sasuke as Iruka started the lesson.

Naruto then got an idea and grabbed a piece of paper before writing "Ditch? Shadow clone+substitution?" and sliding it to Sasuke.

Sasuke grabbed the paper and smiled before discretely nodding his head and performing the cross seal under his desk at the same time as Naruto. A clone of each popped up outside the window before the pair did the ram symbol and switched places with the clones.

"So what now?" Said Sasuke as the pair hopped along the roof tops, making sure to stay hidden.

"Well we can't go to my place, Jiji would shit a brick if he knew I was ditching."

"Same for mine, if Dad and Itachi found out they'd kill us both."

"Damn… How about we go to one of the unused training grounds to train a bit?"

"Sure works for me." Said Sasuke before the 2 changed course for training ground 14, one of the non used training grounds out in the woods on the outskirts of town.

"So, since I taught you a sweet jutsu, do you have any you can teach me?" Said Naruto as they arrived.

"Hmm… do you know the Katon: Hosenka no jutsu?" Asked Sasuke.

"Nuh-uh." Replied Naruto.

"Well…" Sasuke then began to explain the technique to Naruto, who grasped the concept pretty quick. He then ran though the required hand seals and said "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu." As he inhaled and then exhaled, blowing out several softball sized fireballs.

"Cool that was pretty good, especially for the first try. It took me like a month to get that good." Said Sasuke

Naruto then rubbed the back of his head and chuckled "I have an affinity for Katon, and Jiji says I have low jonin level chakra reserves."

"Oh I see, but all the chakra in the world won't help you, I'll still be the better ninja!" Sasuke challenged.

"Not even in your dreams!" Said Naruto "But anyways, do you have any other affinities?"

"Katon and Raiton. What about you?"

"Katon, Futon, and Raiton. Do you know any Raiton jutsu yet?"

"No, Dad has only taught me the Hosenka so far."

"Hmm… I wonder if I have any on my scroll?" Said Naruto as he pulled a scroll from his pocket and looked it over for a second before frowning. He didn't have any lightning jutsu, but his father had recommended several chakra control exercises to get his control up before learning many jutsu anyways.

"I don't have any lower level jutsu, but how about chakra control training?"

"Sure what did you have in mind?"

"Well my scroll from Jiji says that tree climbing is a good way to practice."

"How does climbing trees help anything?"

"You have to use your chakra to make your feet stick." Said Naruto as he walked towards one of the trees nearby and stuck a foot to it while concentrating. He then stuck the other foot and was now parallel with the ground. He walked up a few more steps before putting in too much chakra and blowing himself off of the tree, landing with a 'thud' as Sasuke laughed his ass off.

"Watch and learn, loser." He said as he walked over to his own tree. He made it up about 3 steps before underpowering it and falling with his own 'thud' as it was Naruto's turn to laugh.

"Bastard." Sasuke said with a chuckle before the 2 started at it again, quickly making it into a competition.

After a few hours, both had the tree climbing technique figured out, with Naruto beating Sasuke by less than 5 minutes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the academy

The idea of leaving the shadow clones in class served a purpose other than not being missed; the pair hoped to actually learn the lessons, since in person they slept through them anyways. This, however, was not the case.

"NARUTO! SASUKE! PAY ATTENTION!" yelled Iruka at the 2 sleeping 'students'.

Both of them shot up in their chair now wide awake as Iruka continued his lesson "And since the average hunting knives were less than efficient for combat, some ninja started trying to design a better weapon. This led to several failed attempts, such as…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at training ground 14

"You just got lucky you know." Sasuke pouted

"Nah this is pure talent." Said Naruto with a large grin.

"Whatever. What do we do next?"

"Well, the scroll says water walking is the next one. It's like tree climbing but the surface constantly changes so you have to vary the chakra output."

"Ugh great." Said Sasuke as he started towards the pond at the edge of the field while taking off his shirt.

"Why are you stripping homo? I'm not that way!" Naruto teased

"Screw you! I know that as much as I fell tree climbing I'll probably get wet at some point so I'm saving my clothes." Sasuke replied as he took off his pants as well, leaving only his boxers.

"Good point I guess." Said Naruto as he too stripped off his clothes.

Now anyone just walking by would probably require extensive therapy, seeing the 2 preteen boys in their underwear trying to walk on water.

Again, after another several hours, both boys had the exercise down, this time with Sasuke winning by a few minutes.

"Hah I won this time, LOSER!" Sasuke teased.

"Well now we're tied, looks like we'll have to have a tie breaker."

"What do we do now then?"

"Stick leaves to our body with chakra. Most leaves in 1 hour wins, and then we'll have to head home?"

"Deal." Replied Sasuke as both boys started frantically grabbing leaves and trying to get them to stick, neither wanting to be the loser at the end of the day.

After the hour was over, much to Sasuke's dismay, Naruto had stuck 11 leaves to the various parts of his body to Sasuke's 10.

"Haha who's the loser now?!" Naruto taunted while doing a victory dance.

"Dammit." Sasuke pouted.


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome back for another exiting chapter of what was formerly **_**The Breaking Point. **_**I hope you all enjoy.**

**Credit to Jay-Jay12393's story **_**Naruto: The Blue Eyed Uchiha. **_**It inspired my 'Uchiha Massacre Arc' if you'd call an arc. (free spoiler, if you hadn't figured out that far) I got the idea of having Root interfere so as to keep Itachi around the village.**

**Speaking of which, I read several fanfics, so it is likely that I subconsciously write things from other stories occasionally. If you see one of your ideas, send me a message and I will gladly give credit where it is due.**

**You all know that I'm just a bum and own nothing, Naruto included.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

20 copies of Naruto sat around various places in the large house that he now resided in, while the original was in the back yard practicing his taijutsu with a clone of Hiruzen. The clones inside were reading over various scrolls, ranging from more advanced chakra control techniques, to lower level Futon, Raiton, and Katon jutsu.

"Alright, try again Naruto-kun." Said 'Hiruzen' as he watched Naruto throw several kunai and shuriken at a large wooden target, though still not perfectly accurate.

Naruto went to the target and removed all of his previously thrown weapons, before coming back to the line and trying again. This continued for a couple more hours until Naruto had finally perfected his accuracy. After the weapon practice, Naruto and Hiruzen went over the basics of the taijutsu style that his father used. After a couple hours of this, Naruto got the basics, so he decided to call it a night. He dispelled the Hiruzen clone before walking back inside to wash up and get something to eat.

As Naruto got out of the shower and started to cook his instant ramen, the clones started dispelling themselves, sending the information they learned back to the original. Naruto was now rather happy, as he would have some new things to practice with Sasuke when they skipped school again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Uchiha secret meeting room

"I for one have grown tired of the way that this village alienates our clan. We are the strongest in Konoha, yet they have been pushing us away since the reign of the Nidaime." Said the man at the head of the table in the underground meeting room of the Uchiha clan.

"I agree with you Fugaku-sama. We have been pushed to the side for far too long, I believe it is time for action." Said another of the men at the table.

"Yes… I believe it is about time we show this village that the Uchiha are superior to all others. I will soon lead this clan back to it's proper prestige, once that fool Sarutobi is… out of the way." Said the man now identified as Fugaku.

"It will be a good day indeed. With that fool gone the Uchiha will reign supreme!" Said yet another of the men.

"I don't believe that this is the correct path to take. Trying to plan a coup will only lead to more problems than it is worth in the end." Said the youngest man currently in the room, ANBU captain Itachi.

"Son you are an excellent shinobi but you are still young and naïve. This is the only way to regain our prominence." Said Fugaku.

"As you say father."

"Now Itachi, I understand you have a meeting with the ANBU after we are through here yes?"

"Yes father."

"Then you know your mission. Obtain all the information that you can, and report the weaknesses to us at our meeting next week."

"Yes father." Said Itachi as he bowed to the council before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hokage's office, 1 hour later

"Hokage-sama." Said the weasel faced ANBU as he appeared kneeling in front of Hiruzen's desk in a swirl of leaves.

Hiruzen went through some hand seals before the room glowed purple for a moment and then faded back to normal. "Ahh Itachi, report." Said the aged Hokage as said ANBU stood up and removed his mask.

"It is worse than I thought, my father actually intends a violent takeover; a coup de etat, if you will. I tried to talk them out of it but it appears that their minds are made up."

"I see… Do you have any specifics?"

"Not yet. I just left from a meeting with the council. They actually assume that I am spying on you for them. But as of the meeting tonight, they have only decided that it will happen, and will involve your death. They didn't elaborate on when or how."

"Understood." Said Hiruzen as he did a couple of hand seals to disable the privacy seal. "Tiger."

No sooner than he finished speaking, a swirl of leaves appeared in the room to reveal a kneeling ANBU with a tiger mask.

"Hokage-sama, Weasel-taichou." Said tiger with a bow of his head.

"Please fetch me Homaru, Koharu, and Danzo please, Tiger." Said Hiruzen.

"As you wish, Hokage-sama." Said Tiger before disappearing again.

20 minutes later, the door to the Hokage's office opened up, revealing the three village elders.

"Ahh, please have a seat, we have much to discuss."

The elders then came in and sat down around his desk, where Itachi retold the tell of the coupe, before they began to discuss possible courses of action.

"I believe that this threat should be handled quickly and efficiently, by killing all of the Uchiha." Said Danzo firmly.

"I think that we should wait it out longer, to see who is involved, and only eliminate them." Countered Hiruzen.

"I somewhat agree with Danzo, we should act quickly, but only kill the elder Uchiha that harbor I'll feelings towards the village." This was Koharu, earning a nod from Homaru.

"As I said before, for the most part, the Uchiha have been cursed by their desire for power. I fear that if we don't eliminate the whole threat, then the survivors will become even more withdrawn and it may lead to further problems down the road."

"I see where you are coming from Danzo, but I don't believe that to be the best solution." Said Hiruzen.

"I believe it to be the only way. This way will guarantee that they will be no threat in the future."

"…I suppose you may be right… Itachi?"

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

"What is your opinion on this matter?"

"I agree with whatever you decide upon. I do, however, believe that we should only eliminate the guilty. The children are still young enough to be molded and changed to stay off the path of hatred that the family has taken thus far."

"I happen to agree. That is the path we will take. It shall be carried out in 1 weeks time then, after the next meeting of the Uchiha."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the meeting

'_ . Tap.' _Was the noise heard down the long, dark corridor underneath Konoha. The noise continued for several minutes before it faded into the sound of a door opening and then shutting.

"Torune." The source of the noise, one Danzo Shimura, said to seemingly no one. A couple of seconds after he spoke there was a rustling of wind in the room.

"Yes, Danzo-sama?" Said the man now kneeling in front of Danzo's desk.

"At ease Torune." Danzo said as the man stood up and bowed.

"Alright, I will need you to have your best 2 squads prepared for a mission within the week. Sarutobi is having one of his ANBU eliminate the Uchiha Shinobi. I tried to convince him to kill them all but the weak old man refused, so we will have to take care of this problem from the shadows as always."

"It will be seen to, Danzo-sama." Said Torune before disappearing as quick as he came.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Do I really have to?!" Pouted Naruto as Sasuke drug him through the streets, with a blushing Hinata in tow.

"Yes. If you are going to hang out with me, and be taken serious, then you have to dress like a shinobi."

"Theres nothing wrong with my clothes!"

"Naruto, you wear a 'killme orange' jumpsuit. That is just begging someone to find and slay you."

"Hinata-chan help me out here!"

Hinata blushed a little deeper before managing to stutter out "A-A-Actually N-Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun is right."

"Aww man not you too! Fine!" Said Naruto with a huff as he conceded to changing his look.

After several more minutes of walking, the trio arrived at one of more prestigious shinobi clothing stores in Konoha. As they tried to walk in, the cashier glared at Naruto before saying "I'm so sorry Uchiha-sama, Hyuga-sama, is this filth bothering you?"

That comment once more pissed the Uchiha off highly. He turned his onyx eyes upon the man with a glare.

"What was that?"

"I asked if you wanted me to rid you of this trash that is pestering you?"

"This _trash_ happens to be my best friend. I'd advise you to watch your tongue, else you anger 2 of the most prominent clans in Konoha."

The man then opened and closed his mouth several times before apologizing to the trio and ushering them in.

"Well what am I supposed to buy… I'm not big on clothes shopping." Said Naruto as they looked at the various items.

"Hmm…" Pondered Hinata as she started looking around for a minute. Naruto and Sasuke, for their part, sat back and let the woman work her magic. After a few minutes, she didn't disappoint as she came back holding a few outfits in her arms.

"I-I-I think that these would look good on you, N-Naruto-kun."

He then smiled, which made her blush 3 shades darker, then took the clothes into the changing booth. He tried the clothes on before walking back out for her to inspect. It was a pair of khaki cargo shorts, similar to Sasuke's, and a blue polo shirt with orange sleeves and an orange collar. The orange sleeves extended down the side of the shirt before curving in to a point, stopping at the ribcage.

"Hmm, I kind of like this one, I still get to keep some orange too!" Said Naruto, exited about keeping his favorite color. Sasuke was just along for the ride. Hinata however, fainted upon seeing it, only getting out a single thought "_SEXY!_"

"Hinata-chan! Are you okay?"

"Hah she obviously likes it." Said Sasuke, noticing the large smile on her face as she fell.

"Well then it works for me too, lets wake her up and get out of here."

They waited a few minutes for Hinata to finally recover, before they gathered the clothes and went to the register to purchase them.

After buying the clothes with no problem, they went by an embroidery shop to drop them off to have a leaf insignia put on the left chest of the shirts, and the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back. Once that task was done, the trio then sat out to find something to eat while they waited.

They settled upon going to a nearby barbeque place where they ate and chatted for a couple of hours before heading back to pick up Naruto's new clothes. After they picked them up, the trio went their separate ways to rest up for the next day. None of them, however, knew that tomorrow would be a day that changed both Naruto and Sasuke's lives forever.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Ninpo: Cliffhanger no jutsu**

**Rank: S kinjutsu**

**The most evil technique that a writer can utilize. It is labeled as forbidden because of the severe, inhumane emotional trauma that it causes to the readers. **

**Now I suppose that some of you will easily figure out what the "Life changing event" will be since I hinted at it (outright said it, twice) in this chapter. If not, then you'll see next chapter. Or maybe I'll pull a Kishimoto and add in 30 filler chapters about unrelated characters… No I couldn't do that. **

**Anyways, Another short chapter. This should be the last shorty-build up chapter before I get down to the 'meat' of the story.**

**Also, for the repeat readers, I actually had to change the name of this story, from **_**The Breaking Point**_** to **_**What Could've Been**_** because I think the new title better fits the outline I've got for this story, since originally, Naruto 'broke' and went kind of psycho, but I changed things up.**

**I suppose I've rambled on long enough. I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter and fav, follow, review, refer your friends, you know the routine.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome back for the next chapter of **_**What Could've Been.**_

**I don't own Naruto. I tried a hostile takeover recently, and failed miserably.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto, once again, was the third person to arrive at the academy. As he entered, Hinata blushed, but managed to stay conscious this time. "Hey guys, good morning." Naruto said as he walked to his normal seat.

"Morning." Replied Sasuke.

"G-G-Good M-Morning N-Naruto-kun… Y-You l-l-look" That was as far as Hinata could make it before she lost her battle with unconsciousness.

"Man, she should see a doctor, this is happening a lot lately." Said a clueless Naruto.

"You're such an idiot, Naruto." Said Sasuke with a smirk.

"Why am I an idiot?!"

"Nothing."

"Tell me!"

"You'll see one day." Said Sasuke, letting out a chuckle.

"I wanna know now though!"

"Okay I'll tell you then."

"Yea! Why then?"

"You just are." Sasuke said as he chuckled again.

"Ass."

"I know you are but what am I?"

"Stupid."

"I know you are but what am I?"

"Stop it asshole!"

"I know you are but what am I?" Sasuke now broke into full laughter as Naruto's face turned red with frustration.

"I'm about to-"

"N-Naruto-kun, S-Sasuke-kun, be nice to each other p-please." Said the now conscious Hinata.

"Fine!" Naruto huffed as he sat back and willed Sasuke's head to explode with his mind.

By now a few more of the students were starting to arrive. Among them were several girls who had quit hating Naruto, but didn't yet like him, before today. Once all the girls arrived and saw Naruto's new outfit, there was another fanclub formed almost instantly.

As some of the girls wooed over Naruto, Sasuke developed a smile that threatened to tear his face in half.

"What's so funny?" Asked Naruto.

"You drew some of their attention away from me."

"What do you-" It was then that Naruto heard the yells(how the hell he didn't hear them before is beyond me) of 'Naruto-kun!' And 'Oh my God he's sooo cute!' and then the sounds of shoving and cursing and 'No I'm gonna date Naruto-kun first!' and 'Nuh uh I am!'

He just slammed his head onto the table as Sasuke started laughing and Hinata giggled a bit.

"It's not funny." Came his muffled reply to their laughter.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Yelled Iruka as he walked in the room.

Once everyone was paying attention he smiled before beginning the day.

"Alright class, today, we will be going over taijutsu. Let's move outside so you can show me what you know so far." Said Iruka as he looked over the class.

"Damn we can't skip today or the clones will end up getting dispelled." Whispered Sasuke to Naruto who let out a low growl, making Hinata giggle.

The class then made their way out to the academy training field where everyone got paired off. Naruto and Sasuke were a pair, which they both liked. Hinata was paired up with Sakura, which Hinata liked.

"_I wish I already knew the Jyuken, where I could beat her for being so annoying._" Thought Hinata.

"_Maybe if I can beat her, Sasuke-kun will like me!" "__**Yeah! If you pummel her he'll HAVE to love us!**_" Thought Sakura and Inner Sakura.

All of the kids began their spars under the watchful eyes of the teachers, who were trying to correct their stances and point out mistakes in their styles. Finally it became Naruto and Sasuke's turn, making the fangirls go crazy.

"NARUTO/SASUKE-KUN!" The chorus was heard all across the village.

"Ready to lose, loser?" Said Sasuke with a smirk on his face.

"In your dreams!" Replied Naruto with his own smirk.

"Begin!" Shouted Iruka before jumping out of the way.

The 2 boys quickly charged at each other, Sasuke throwing a punch towards Naruto's face. Naruto ducked under the punch and launched his own uppercut at Sasuke, who flipped back out of the way to avoid it. The boys stood at opposite sides of the ring staring each other down for a moment, before charging in again. This time is was Naruto to act, throwing a feint punch at Sasuke. He bit and went to block the punch, before Naruto threw a kick into his ribs and slid him back several feet.

"Oww bastard, you'll pay for that!" shouted Sasuke as he leapt back into the fight.

Sasuke quickly got back to Naruto and tried to sweep his legs out from under him, but Naruto jumped up to avoid it. Sasuke smirked, knowing that Naruto would do that. He quickly reached his arms out and grabbed Naruto's legs, spinning him around and driving him into the ground hard. Sasuke smiled, thinking he won, until he heard a 'poof', signaling that it was a shadow clone. He started to turn his head and look for Naruto, but didn't make it far before Naruto's fist connected with his cheek, knocking him to his back. When he opened his eyes, Naruto was standing above him with a fist 2 inches from his face.

"Good job boys, both of you are well advanced in taijutsu for your age. I saw some openings and flaws, but that is to be expected. I assume you both train at home, seeing that that wasn't the academy style?" Said Iruka

Naruto then helped Sasuke up before answering "Yea, I'm trying to develop my own style, between my mother and father's, but it's slow going."

"I use my family style, the intercepting fist." Sasuke added in.

"Well I'm glad to see you two training early, you'll go far in the world like that." Said Iruka with a smile. "Okay next up, Hinata and Sakura!"

The 2 mentioned girls then walked up to the ring and bowed to each other, before Iruka told them to begin.

Sakura quickly charged in at Hinata, who just stood there and waited. As Sakura got in close, Hinata gave her a quick palm strike to the face. Sakura reeled back a couple of steps and hit the ground unconscious.

"Well… good job Hinata." Said Iruka with a sweat-drop.

"T-Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

"Alright everyone, good job today! You are dismissed!" Iruka shouted over the crowd of students. They all began to go their separate ways, as Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto met up.

"Wanna go grab something eat and then train for a while?"

"T-Thanks f-for asking, Naruto-kun, but Father wants me to train with him today, sorry."

"It's fine Hinata-chan, maybe some other time." Said Naruto with a reassuring smile.

"You in Sasuke?"

"Sure, lets go." Sasuke replied as the two set off for Ichiraku Ramen.

After they ate, the 2 went to Naruto's house to use his training field, where they stayed until it was almost dark outside.

"You wanna come over for dinner? I'm sure Mom won't mind." Said Sasuke once they were done training.

"Sure, let me clean up real quick though." Replied Naruto as he ran inside and took a shower

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

20 minutes later

Naruto and Sasuke were almost at the Uchiha compound when they heard what sounded like a fight going on inside, so they took off to check it out.

Once they arrived inside, both boys were almost sick. Bodies were lying everywhere in the streets, And the only people they could see still alive were Itachi and 8 ANBU, and they were fighting.

"Itachi-nii!" Yelled Sasuke as he started running towards the group, followed by Naruto.

Itachi didn't have time to look up as he was fighting at an 8 to 1 disadvantage. He soon found an opening, and stuck a kunai into one of the men's throat.

Sasuke, for his part, ran in and tried to stab one of the Root in the back while he was distracted, but failed as the Root broke away and kicked Sasuke into a wall across the street, knocking him out.

Naruto was worried about Sasuke, but knew he had to focus right now. "Kagebunshin no jutsu!" He shouted as 50 clones appeared and swarmed the 2 root that broke away from the fight. It only took the Root a couple of minutes to disperse the clones, and the only injuries they had was a few cuts here and there. They then turned their attention to the real Naruto. He tried to fight back but it was no use against the best of Danzo's soldiers, and they quickly began to beat him, before one of them slashed him across the left eye with a kunai, and kicked him away, leaving him for dead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"**You are pathetic, Kit. Every time you get in a fight I have to come bail you out. I would be the laughing stock of the other bijuu if they knew my container was so weak. You're just lucky I would die with you or I'd let the men kill you. Take my power and do away with those me that threaten you." **Growled Kurama to Naruto, who was now in his mindscape.

"Thanks." Naruto said as he faded away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the real world.

Itachi wasn't fairing to well against the 7 Root members, until they all stopped briefly as they felt a chakra source and killing intent that would bring a normal man to his knees.

Naruto's prone form on the ground started leaking off red chakra in waves, as his eyes became slitted, his whiskers darkened, and his canines grew out. "**This is the end **for you bastards. You dare come here **and kill the family of my friends… for that… you will die**" Said the now Kyuubified Naruto as he held out his arms and sent 2 chakra arms to the group of Root, crushing 2 of them in a shower of blood. Itachi seized this advantage and beheaded another of them, making it now a 4 on 2. 2 of the root turned from Itachi and went after Naruto while the other 2 stayed with Itachi.

Since these 2 were actually expecting a fight, they weren't as easy to kill, and managed to still get another few blows out on Naruto. He fought them to a stalemate for a while before he breathed out a stream of fire that caught one of them and burned most of his body away. The second quickly dodged and made it inside of Naruto's guard due to the distraction, before he took a slash with his tanto and claimed Naruto's other eye. Once Naruto got hit, he roared in pain before release a vortex of flames from his body that finished off the root, before passing out himself.

Itachi, now with only 2 on 1 odds, made quick work of the other 2 with his ninja-to, decapitating both. After the fight, he made a shadow clone that shunshinned straight to the Hokage's office to alert him of what happened. Within a minute, Hiruzen and a squad of ANBU appeared beside Itachi in the compound.

"Itachi, report." Hiruzen said as he looked around at the mess.

"All was going according to plan until these Root ANBU attacked. While I was fighting them, Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun showed up. Sasuke was knocked out immediately but Naruto managed to kill 4 of them with the Kyuubi's help. If he hadn't shown up I probably would have died, but unfortunately he lost both of his eyes in the fight."

Hiruzen was visibly upset that his surrogate grandson was blind and could now never become the Hokage he dreamed to be. "I see… ANBU, clean up this mess and find any survivors."

"I have a way to fix his eyes, if you will allow it, Hokage-sama." Itachi said, noticing that Hiruzen was upset.

Hiruzen instantly became less tense as he said "Do whatever you can to fix it."

"Hai." Replied Itachi as he walked into his house briefly before coming back out with a jar that had 2 eyes floating in it. He knelt down beside Naruto and did a quick series of hand seals with one hand as he opened the jar and pulled out one of these eyes. His free hand then started to glow green before he reached it down and made a 'C' shape with his thumb and index finger and oped up Naruto's right eyelid to reveal the disfigured eye. He then pulled out the eye and replaced it with the one in his other hand. After it was in he repeated the process with Naruto's other eye, before placing him in a genjutsu to keep him asleep until he can get to the hospital. "There, he should be fine after some rest in the hospital."

"Thank you Itachi-kun. If you don't mind me asking, who did they belong to?" Hiruzen replied

"They were my Fugaku's. But on another note; what do we do about the root?"

"Simple, they went rogue and invaded the compound, and you killed them to protect the clan. You will claim innocence so that you don't have to go rogue."

"I see. Thank you Hokage-sama."

"Thanks for what?"

Itachi just chuckled at that, despite all that had happened tonight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2 days later

"_Where am I?" _Thought Naruto as he slowly started to regain consciousness. _"And why can't I see anything?"_

He tried for a second to open his eyes but found that he couldn't. "The fight… I lost both my eyes! I'M BLIND!" He started shouting

This woke Hiruzen, who was sitting beside Naruto's bed but had dozed off. "Naruto-kun!" He yelled "Calm down for a moment and let me explain!"

"_That voice… is that…"_ "Jiji?" Naruto asked, calming down at the voice of his grandfather figure.

"Yes Naruto-kun it's me."

"What happened?"

"Some Root ANBU went rogue and invaded the Uchiha compound trying to eliminate them for reasons unknown, but you and Itachi-kun managed to stop them. Unfortunately, as I guess you know, you lost both of your eyes in the fight. However, Itachi-kun managed to fix them."

"Then why can't I see?"

"Your eyes are still bandaged, Naruto-kun. In order to fix your eyesight, Itachi took the sharingan eyes from his father, who was killed in the fight."

"So I have a dead guys eyes?" Said Naruto, turning green.

"Yes, but it isn't that bad. You're like Kakashi now. You are only the second non-Uchiha to have a sharingan."

"I see… so when can I take the bandages off?"

"It should be okay to remove them now, you've been out for over 2 days."

"Okay then." Replied Naruto as he began to unwrap the bandages around his head. Soon he was finished and looked at the world with a whole new light.

Hiruzen, for his part, was shocked. When he looked at Naruto's new eyes, he saw a Mangekyo Sharingan. The pattern looked similar to a biohazard symbol. **(see my profile for a picture.)**

"Naruto-kun, can you deactivate your eyes?"

Naruto wasn't sure why, but somehow he knew how to deactivate the eyes, so he did so, showing plain onyx eyes.

"_It sure is weird, seeing Naruto without those deep blue eyes of his._" Hiruzen thought as he stared at the black orbs.

"Now turn them back on."

Naruto did so, revealing the normal 3 tomoe sharingan.

"Also, you have a special version, called the Mangekyo, can you activate that one?"

The 3 tomoe in Naruto's eyes began to spin rapidly before merging into his Mangekyo form.

"Good, you can turn them back off now."

Naruto turned off his Mangekyo, but left the 3 tomoe active.

"Why did you leave the sharingan on, Naruto-kun?"

"I need to get used to seeing from them. By the way Jiji, how is Sasuke?"

"He is fine, he got a concussion but should be awake by the morning."

"Okay then… Thanks Jiji." Naruto said as he stood and gave the old man a hug.

Hiruzen smiled a bit at that and said "Okay Naruto-kun, you're free to go now. I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye Jiji." Naruto said as Hiruzen walked out the door.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Well, there it is, I hope you all enjoyed. Read, fav, follow, review, refer your friends, you know the deal.**

**I'd like to give a special shout out to Erasels, who is a prime example of what a reviewer should be. Thank you for that.**

**Anyways, until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Welcome back for the next exiting installment of **_**What Could've been.**_** I hope you all enjoy.**

**Remember that I don't own Naruto. I fought the Kishi, and Kishi won; therefore it remains his property.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"N-Naruto-kun I'm glad that you're okay." Said Hinata as she walked out of the hospital alongside Naruto.

"Yea, I just feel bad for Sasuke. A lot of his family died and for no reason." Naruto replied with a tone of sadness in his voice. While he didn't know what it was like to lose someone close, he knew what it was like to be lonely, having grown up with no one.

"Yes but at least Sasuke-kun still has his mom and Itachi."

"Yea, and he has us too." Said Naruto with determination.

"Of course." Replied Hinata with a smile.

By this time the pair had made it out of the hospital and onto the street, headed for Ichiraku's to grab a bite to eat. Both of them couldn't help but notice that the glares Naruto usually received now seemed worse. As they continued along, they heard some of the people murmur "Damn demon, he's obviously responsible for the massacre." and "I heard he stole the Sharingan from them after he killed them all."

It upset Hinata that people were blaming Naruto for what happened when he actually helped to stop the rogue ANBU. _"Naruto-kun… I wish people weren't like that."_

Naruto, for his part, was already used to the glares and hatred; he only hoped that it would stay just that-glares and rumors. He didn't want to be attacked again after that night he killed that group of villagers.

They finally arrived at Ichiraku's, much to Hinata's pleasure. In here, the people couldn't be mean to Naruto. Tseuchi and Ayame had been among the first people to accept Naruto and treat him well, and wouldn't allow anyone to bully Naruto in their presence.

"Hey old man! Miso ramen with pork for me, and keep em coming!" Naruto said as they walked in and took their seats.

"Sure thing Naruto-kun. And what would you like Hinata-chan?" Replied Tseuchi.

"I'll have a vegetable ramen please." Hinata said politely.

"I'll have them out in just a minute then." Said Tseuchi as he walked into the back to prepare their food.

As soon as Tseuchi made it through the door, Ayame burst out and sprinted around the counter to wrap Naruto in a hug. "I was so worried about you Otouto! I heard you were injured in a fight at the Uchiha compound. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Neechan, you should know that nothing can keep me down until I become the Hokage!" Naruto stated with conviction as Ayame smiled.

"I know, but I can't help but worry about my otouto."

"Thanks." Naruto said as she walked back behind the counter and grabbed their food from her dad.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto half-shouted as he began to eat with a fury that only 2 days without food can cause.

Hinata and Ayame both sweat-dropped at his manners, but both also knew that he hadn't eaten in a couple of days, so they decided to allow it. Just this once.

Hinata and Naruto both finished eating while chatting with Tseuchi and Ayame, which lasted for a while, considering that Naruto downed nearly thirty bowls. After they were done with the meal they both stood to leave as Hinata reached into her pocket for some money to pay for her meal. Upon seeing this, Naruto stopped her and pulled out enough to pay for both of their meals.

"T-Thanks, N-Naruto-kun." Said Hinata with a light blush as they left and began to walk towards her home.

"It's no problem Hinata-chan, I asked you to come so it's only right that I pay, right?" Naruto replied as he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Y-You really didn't have to thought."

"It was no problem at all."

The 2 then continued their walk, making small talk, before they arrived near the Hyuga compound.

"See you tomorrow Hinata-chan." Naruto said as he gave her a quick hug, making her blush brightly.

"S-S-Sure N-Naruto-kun. T-Thank you for walking me home." She stuttered out before walking inside.

As soon as she made it in, one of the branch family members approached her and said "Hinata-sama, Hiashi-sama requests your presence."

"Hai. Thank you." Hinata replied with a small bow.

Hinata then made her way to her father's study and knocked on the door, worrying about what he might want. Though she had gotten slightly better with her confidence issues, being with her father still rattled her. He had been very cold and distant to her ever since her mother died a couple of years ago.

"Enter." Came the flat voice of Hiashi, her father. She opened the door and walked inside before bowing to him.

"Hello Tousan, you wanted to see me?" She said, barely managing not to stutter.

"Yes, I have a few questions for you."

Hinata just nodded her acknowledgement as a sign for him to continue.

"I am told that you are associating with an Uchiha and the Uzumaki child, yes?"

"Y-Yes Tousan."

"I see. I am not pleased by this. You know our clan has bad blood with the Uchiha, and the Uzumaki is nothing but trouble."

"B-But Tousan they-"

"No 'buts' Hinata. They are trash, and you shall not see them again."

"_Naruto-kun… Sasuke-kun… you are my only friends, how can I not see you anymore?" _thought Hinata.

"But-"

"My word is final. You will not associate with them anymore. Is that clear?"

Hinata was saddened now, almost to the point of tears at the thought of losing her friends. It was then that something inside of her decided to snap.

"No." Hinata said with a new found conviction.

"What was that?" Hiashi replied with anger evident in his voice.

"I said no. I will not stop talking to my friends."

"You dare defy my word?! You need to learn your place_ girl._"

"You will not control my life! Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are my friends and it will remain that way!" Hinata yelled only to be slapped in the face by the enraged Hiashi.

"Get out of my sight. I will decide a fitting punishment for your insolence by the morning." Said Hiashi as he glared daggers at Hinata.

Hinata got up and left the room without another word.

"_Insolent little bitch… She is too soft to be the heir anyways, she would bring disgrace to our name. Perhaps Neji would be a suitable replacement. Even though he was born into the branch house he is quite the prodigy. That's it. I shall banish Hinata and give her the seal, and then remove Neji's and name him clan heir." _Hiashi thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Hinata

"_I can't believe he would try to take them away from me." _Hinata thought as she walked to her room. _"I would never give up Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun. I just can't believe I actually stood up to him either."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Naruto after he left Hinata

Naruto began his trek back towards the Hokage's office to gain entry to his house, ignoring the continued glares of the villagers. After a while, he noticed someone following him.

"_Come on, not this again. I'm still too far away from the tower to receive help. Ugh." _He thought as he altered his path towards the nearest training ground.

"_Damn more of them keep joining in."_

He soon arrived and turned to the stalkers "Come on out, I know you're there."

To his surprise, it was a group of 5 people, and 3 of them had on chunin vests.

"_Just freakin great."_

"Are you prepared to die, demon?" Said one of the chunin.

"I've never bothered you before! Can't you just leave me alone?!" Naruto shouted.

"Never bothered us? You killed my father 8 years ago, and now you killed half of the Uchiha clan. We're gonna make you pay!" Said the next chunin as he lunged at Naruto. Naruto quickly leapt out of his way to dodge the attack, but was met by the first chunin who punched him in the face and knocked him into a tree. Before Naruto even managed to hit the ground he was kicked in the ribs and knocked away once more. He regained his composure in mid flight and landed feet first to a tree and stuck to it. It was then that he remembered having his sharingan, so he activated it to see if it would give him an edge.

Once he activated his eyes, it was like the difference between night and day. Movements he could barely track before were now clearly visible, and he could predict what move they would make next easily. The next one to attack appeared to be a genin in his mid-teens; he leapt towards Naruto with a kunai, intending to slash his throat. Naruto saw the move before he made it, so he pulled out his own kunai and ducked under the slash before jumping back up and burying it hilt deep in the man's chest before kicking the body away just in time to doege a slash from a sword by the other genin, this one was a girl who appeared to be about 14-15 years old.

He shifted to the left just enough to dodge the sword strike before coming up with another kunai and cutting into the arm that was holding said sword. She screamed and let go of the sword before spinning to throw a kick at Naruto's head. He saw it coming and easily ducked under it before kicking her in the chest, sending her flying. He then grabbed the sword that she dropped and blocked a slash from a kunai by the 3rd chunin. The chunin then leapt away and began to do handseals. Naruto stuck his new sword in the ground and quickly began to copy him. "Katon: Endan!"(**Fire Release: Flame Bullet**) They simultaneously shouted as they blew out a stream of flames at each other.

The flames collided and dispersed each other in a cloud of steam. Naruto, with his Sharingan, could easily see through the steam, while the chunin couldn't. Naruto grabbed the sword out of the ground and formed a shadow clone, before the clone leapt through the smoke and engaged the chunin. It didn't take long for the chunin to land a hit on the clone and dispel it. _"Shadow clone?"_ was his last thought as his head left his shoulders and rolled across the ground.

Naruto then stopped to look around to find the other 2 attackers. Just as he found one of the chunin running towards him with a kunai, he heard a new voice say "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."(**Fire Release: Grand Fireball**) Before a massive stream of fire swept across the ground in front of him and turned the attacking chunin to ash before turning and incinerating the girl that he knocked out previously.

"Sorry it took me so long to get here Naruto-kun. You can take it easy now, good job so far." Said the mysterious voice, that belonged to an ANBU in a weasel mask.

Weasel then threw out several shuriken before going through handseals so fast that Naruto couldn't even follow with his sharingan. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu." he said as he blew out several balls of fire that enveloped the shuriken before they all flew at the last remaining combatant, slicing and burning him beyond recognition.

"Who are you?" Asked Naruto, awed by the man's performance.

"As of right now, my name is Weasel. You may call me Itachi though, Naruto-kun." Said Itachi as he removed his mask.

"You're Sasuke's brother right?" Naruto asked.

"That is correct Naruto-kun."

"I'm sorry about your clan Itachi-kun."

"_You don't know the half of it. Wait did he call me Itachi-kun?"_

"Thank you for your condolences. And –kun?"

"Well you called me Naruto-kun. Do you mind if I call you Itachi-kun?"

"No no, feel free."

"Thank you." Naruto replied with a smile.

"Well Naruto-kun, we should report in to the Hokage."

"Right." Naruto said as Itachi put a hand on his shoulder and shunshinned them to Hiruzens office.

"Itachi-kun, Naruto-kun, what brings you two here?" Said Hiruzen as he stuffed some tobacco into his pipe and lit it up.

"Naruto-kun was attacked by a few shinobi." Itachi said plainly.

Hiruzen's eyes lit up a bit in worry at that as he said "I see. What happened?"

"Well, I was walking home after I dropped Hinata-chan off at the Hyuga compound, when I noticed I was being followed. I then led them to the nearest training field in case they caused any trouble. After we got there they called me a demon and blamed me for killing the Uchiha, before attacking me. I managed to take out 2 of them and incapacitate a third before Itachi-kun arrived and swiftly dealt with the remaining 2."

"I see… fools. You did good to defend yourself until Itachi could arrive Naruto-kun. And thank you Itachi-kun for arriving swiftly to help."

"It is no problem Hokage-sama. It is the least I could do, without Naruto-kun I would have likely died by the ROOT."

"Speaking of which, what is ROOT?" Naruto asked

"They are a 'special' group of ANBU that are led by Danzo. They typically work in the shadows and stay out of the public eye." Hiruzen explained.

"Why would they attack the Uchiha?"

"We aren't sure, but we think they may have just cracked under the stress." Hiruzen lied expertly.

"Oh I see."

"Anyways Naruto-kun, are you okay?"

"Yea Jiji, I'm fine. They barely touched me because of the Sharingan."

"_I didn't figure he would be able to use it so quickly… good job Naruto-kun."_

"I see. Well if you are okay then you can go on home." Said Hiruzen as Naruto walked over to the wall and did some hand seals before the wall opened up and walked in and disappeared.

"So Itachi-kun, what did you think of Naruto-kun's performance?"

"He is good for his age, that is for sure, but he needs to be better. I was actually thinking about training him and my otouto for a while and having them join ANBU, if that is okay with you."

"Actually, I was going to suggest something along those lines myself. Being in ANBU would prevent this from happening, as well as make them both strong shinobi."

"Yea, I shall begin as soon as Sasuke-kun is cleared then."

"Okay then, I'll assign this to you as a long term mission, that way you won't be interrupted unless absolutely necessary."

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"Thank you as well. You may be dismissed."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The next day

Naruto woke up as normal, and began his normal morning routine before leaving home on his way to see Sasuke, and then go to school.

"Morning Jiji." Naruto said as he appeared in the Hokage's office.

"Good morning Naruto-kun. How do you feel?" Hiruzen asked, concerned that Naruto was once again forced to kill more people the night before.

"I'm okay Jiji. I'm just headed to see Sasuke and then to school."

"Actually," Hiruzen began as he looked over the young blonde. "How would you like to be trained by Itachi alongside Sasuke instead of attending the academy?"

"Really? I would like that… but I would miss seeing Hinata-chan."

"You don't have to worry about that Naruto-kun, you would still have free time to spend with your friends."

"Really?! If I still get to see her than of course I'll accept! Itachi is really strong so he'd make sure I'm good enough to take your spot in no time!" Naruto replied with a smile.

"He is a very talented shinobi, and the best candidate to teach you now that you have the sharingan. You can go on and visit Sasuke now, and come back here to meet Itachi when you're done."

"Okay. Thanks Jiji!" Said Naruto as he left the room with a smile on his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hyuga compound

Hinata was ready to begin her day, she had already got ready and was about to leave when there was a knock at her door.

"Hinata-sama, Hiashi-sama requests your presence once more."

"_Ugh what could he want now. I hoped he would let it drop after last night."_ She thought as she left her room to see what he wanted. It only took a few minutes for her to arrive at her father's study where she knocked on the door.

"Enter."

She opened the door and walked in to stand in front of his desk. "You wanted to see me?" She said with no emotion in her voice.

"Yes I did. Pertaining to your insolence last night, I have come to a decision. I do not see you fit to be the next leader of this clan; as such, you are hereby banished from the clan and stripped of the Hyuga name."

Those words felt like a hammer hitting Hinata in the chest. She was upset with her father's attitude about her friends, but didn't imagine him to do anything like this. She was only 8 years old and now banished from her house and family. _"How will I survive I'm not old enough to live alone!" _She thought.

"And furthermore, once you return from the academy today, you will be given the seal before taking your things and leaving."

She was now almost in shock at the news of receiving the seal. She was almost in tears, so she simply nodded her head before turning and leaving.

She began walking through the village towards the hospital to visit Sasuke, pondering her father's words and fighting back the tears that threatened to fall.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few minutes later, at the hospital.

Naruto had just arrived at the hospital to see that Sasuke was still asleep. He didn't want to disturb him, so he only sat there for a few minutes before standing to leave. When he made it to the door, however, he almost bumped into Hinata, who had a distant look on her face and wasn't paying attention to where she was going.

"Oh hey Hinata-chan, sorry about that." He said as he backed up to let her in the room.

She didn't reply to him though as she just walked in and sat down in a chair near Sasuke's bed.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto said again, to no reply.

He then walked over closer to her and looked at her better; noticing that she was blankly staring at the wall, with tears obviously threatening to fall at any minute.

"Hinata-chan, are you okay?" He said softly, only inches from her face. It was then that she snapped back to reality and glomped onto him as the dams behind her eyes broke.

She sobbed into his shoulder for several minutes before she finally settled down and started to speak. "N-Naruto-kun _sniff_ I'm sorry… But my father _sniff_ disowned me and banished me from the clan this morning. _Sniff _Then he told me _sniff_ that I was going to get the seal!" she managed to choke out before she started crying again.

"What's going on?" Came a new voice that startled both Naruto and Hinata.

"Oh Sasuke you're finally awake, good!" Naruto said as he held on to Hinata. "She said that her dad disowned her this morning."

"I see… Bastard." Sasuke growled as his 1 tomoe Sharingan subconsciously activated.

"I-It's okay, Sasuke-kun, don't be angry for me." Hinata managed to say.

Sasuke then calmed down, but his Sharingan remained active as he tried to sit up in bed.

"You feel better now princess?" Naruto asked Sasuke with a chuckle, which earned him a Sharingan enhanced glare.

"Well it looks like you finally woke up your Sharingan." Naruto said, now with genuine praise.

"Really?" Sasuke said as he saw his reflection on a window. "Cool, but speaking of eyes and the such, weren't your eyes blue?"

Naruto's face then turned to a saddened expression. "Yea… I got his in both of my eyes during the fight though… so Itachi gave me a set of Sharingan eyes from one of the ones who didn't make it."

"Oh… I see. Can you use the Sharingan?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto replied by activating his 3 tomoe and having them spin around slowly.

"Cool, but it won't help you any, I'm still gonna beat you." Sasuke replied with a smirk.

"I doubt it loser." Naruto said with his own smirk. "But get dressed, we need to go see Jiji."

"Okay give me a minute." Sasuke replied as Naruto lead Hinata out of the room.

A few minutes later the three left the hospital and made their way to the Hokage tower, and into Hiruzen's office.

"Hey Jiji." Naruto Said as they walked inside.

"Hello everyone. I'm glad to see you up again now Sasuke." Replied Hiruzen.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"And what is wrong with Hinata?" Hiruzen asked, which caused Naruto's face to turn serious.

"She said that her father banished her from the clan and told her she was getting sealed later today, though that's all I know." Naruto replied.

"Hinata, would you mind telling me what happened please?"

Hinata then proceeded to explain what happened the previous night and the morning. It angered everyone in the room that Hiashi would kick her out, as well as the personal insults to Naruto and Sasuke.

While it pissed Hiruzen off highly that someone would do that to their own daughter, he knew there was nothing he could do, as it was a clan matter.

"Well, I am not happy about it, but it's not my place to interfere in clan affairs. I'm sorry." He said as he hung his head in defeat.

Now everyone thought Naruto wasn't very smart, he was actually very intelligent; he just chose not to use that knowledge in school. That being said, Naruto picked up on something that everyone else missed.

"Hinata-chan, can you repeat that again please?" He said, earning a confused look from Hiruzen and Sasuke as Hinata began to retell the story.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Cliffhanger! (enraged shouts and surprised gasps erupt from the room) Maybe some of you will figure out what Naruto noticed. If not, then until next time, you shall wait.**

**Review replies:**

**Erasels: As normal, thank you. I always like to take the readers' suggestions to heart so I hope this chapter seems better now.**

**Silvermane1: Itachi gave it to him after the fight; and only time will tell(insert evil laugh here).**

**Monkeyfish997: I may cover it some more in the next chapter(s), but in case I don't, he knew that Itachi killed him, and the great pain of being betrayed by his son caused it.**

**Hope you all enjoyed. I don't have much else to say so read, fav, follow, review, repeat.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Welcome back once again. This chapter will once again be devoted mostly to training and some more buildup. Hope you all enjoy.**

**I still don't own Naruto. I doubt that it'll ever happen… unfortunately for my broke ass.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"I see…" Naruto said as he pondered over what Hinata just said.

"What are you getting at Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked, still confused.

"Hinata-chan, this is very important; Did you tell the story in the exact order that it happened?" Naruto said

"Yes it is." Hinata replied.

"So just to be sure; he banished you from the clan and THEN said you will get the seal?"

"Yes…" Hinata said, not seeing where he was going with this. Hiruzen, however, finally picked up on it. His face lit up in surprise as he realized what Naruto was saying.

Naruto just smiled when he saw that Hiruzen now understood. "If you are now banished and therefore no longer a Hyuga, then it is no longer a clan issue, but an issue with one of our Hokage's future shinobi."

Both Hinata and Sasuke now realized what he was saying. Hinata's face lit up as she realized she was safe, while Sasuke let out a small chuckle. Naruto could be a dumbass at times but he was truly a genius when it mattered.

"Naruto-kun, you are right. If she is already disowned, then Hiashi-san has no right to touch her; doing so would amount to assaulting a citizen, which is illegal." Hiruzen said with a smile, partly because Hinata was now safe, and partly because Naruto had shown his brighter side with his comment.

"Thank you so much Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she glomped him again.

"You're welcome Hinata-chan." Naruto said with a smile as he hugged her back.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there is still the issue of what will happen to Hinata; though she is free from the seal, she is still banished from the clan and has nowhere to go." Hiruzen said with a serious tone.

"Oh yea." Said Naruto in a more somber expression.

Hinata also sulked up once more after thinking about that.

The room stayed in silence for a moment before Naruto perked up and spoke again "Hey Jiji, I've got plenty of extra rooms in my house, she could stay with me?!"

"_Naruto-kun wants me to live with him?!" _Hinata thought as she got a little lightheaded.

"Hinata, what do you think of this?" Hiruzen asked with a small smirk at her expense.

Hinata just nodded her head 'yes', not trusting her voice to work right.

"Okay then, that sounds like a plan." Hiruzen said. "Hinata you can go on to the academy now. Report here once you leave please."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." She said with a deep bow before walking out the door.

It was then that Itachi chose to appear in the room with the trio. "Hokage-sama, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun." He said with a small bow to the Hokage.

"Hello Itachi, how are you?" replied Hiruzen.

"Fine, thank you." Itachi said as he turned to Naruto and Sasuke. "Now then, Sasuke-kun, do you want to receive training from me instead of attending the academy."

"Of course Aniki!" Sasuke said happily. He respected his big brother more than anyone else in the world and loved training under him.

"Okay then, are you ready to begin?"

"Yea!"

"Naruto-kun?"

"Me too."

"Okay then, meet me at the Uchiha training field in 1 hour please."

"Okay!" chorused the boys as they ran home to get ready.

"So, Hokage-sama, how do you believe Hiashi-san will take the news?" Itachi said once the boys were gone.

"I doubt he will be very happy about it. I intend to personally escort Hinata-san to retrieve her personal belongings this afternoon."

"I see. Shall myself and my new 'team' come as well?"

"If you wish. Though I know it isn't right, I would like for you all to be there, so that it makes it worse when Hiashi learns that Naruto picked apart his plan." Hiruzen said with a chuckle. Surprisingly, the ever-stoic Itachi also laughed; and twice in one week at that.

"Okay then, if I may, I'll take my leave now to prepare for the boys' lesson."

"Dismissed." Hiruzen said as Itachi disappeared in a flock of ravens.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

45 minutes later, Uchiha training grounds

"Okay I want you two to know that this training will not be easy, I intend to have you both enrolled in ANBU by the time you turn 10. Do you understand?" Itachi said to the 2 boys standing in front of him.

"Yes Itachi-sensei." They both said at once.

"Good. Now for today's first lesson, I will be teaching you both the shunshin. Normally the technique is reserved for chunin level shinobi, but it is infinitely helpful, so you will learn it today. Both of you activate your Sharingan." Itachi said as both boys did so. Itachi then slowly gathered the chakra to perform a shunshin to the other side of the field and back.

"Did you see how I did that?" He asked as both of them nodded.

"Now you try."

Naruto and Sasuke then formed the ram sign to assist in the chakra gathering before both disappeared from their spots. 20 feet from their previous location, there was a hollow 'thunk' and both boys were seen lying on the ground holding their heads.

"You must concentrate on the destination to control the travel. Without good focus, this will happen again. Try again."

Both boys once more stood up and formed the ram sign before disappearing and reappearing about 20 feet away again.

"Okay good. Now, I want you both to stop here." Itachi said as he threw 2 kunai about 6 feet apart and 50 feet away from the boys.

They once again made the ram sign and disappeared. Naruto appeared about 30 feet in front of him, while Sasuke made it only 25 feet.

Both growled in frustration before Itachi spoke up. "Move back to 50 feet and try again until you can do it."

They proceeded for the next 2 hours, going back and forth, until finally they could both land on the target from 50 feet.

"Good job, now shall we break for lunch?" Itachi said as the 3 walked towards the house to eat.

Once they arrived inside, they saw Mikoto setting the table.

"Right on time." She said with a smile.

"Thanks Kaasan." Said both Itachi and Sasuke.

"Thank you Mikoto-san." Naruto said as they all took a spot at the table.

"You're all welcome." She said in her still happy voice. "And Naruto, just call me Mikoto or Basan, okay?"

"Umm okay, Basan." Naruto said with a small smile.

"Itadakimasu!" Mikoto said as they all began to eat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Half an hour later

"The next lesson will be to follow me while I shunshin. Ready?" Said Itachi as they once more stood in the training field.

Both boys nodded and Itachi disappeared in a flock of ravens. They both formed the ram sign and did the same, appearing a feet away from him.

"Too slow. You must learn to do it without the hand seal. Try again." Itachi said as he disappeared again. Neither boy was able to follow him this time though, as it took a while to get the chakra right without the seal.

"You have 1 hour to learn to shunshin without the seal." Itachi said again as the boys continued trying.

Much to Itachi's surprise, it only took them about 30 minutes to figure it out.

"Okay back to the lesson. Keep up with me." Itachi said and disappeared.

Both boys quickly followed his chakra signature and flickered away to land beside him. Itachi simply disappeared again, so they followed him once more.

This continued for about an hour until the boys could keep up with Itachi.

"Next is to make a distraction when you go. Most people in Konoha use leaves" he said as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves to reappear a few feet away. "I prefer to use genjutsu to show ravens flying away." He said as he demonstrated again.

"For now, just practice with leaves."

"Yes sensei." They both said as they began to kick up dust and leaves.

Once they had both accomplished a correct shunshin, Itachi stopped them for the day and said to meet back at the Hokage's office at 3.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

3 P.M. Hokage's office

At 3 on the dot, Naruto, Itachi, and Sasuke all appeared inside the Hokage's office via shunshin.

"So you taught them the shunshin today I see." Hiruzen said to Itachi as they entered.

"Yea, they learn quickly. I believe they will both be good shinobi in no time." Itachi said, making Naruto and Sasuke smile.

"So Jiji, what are we here for?" Naruto asked.

"Hinata has to go home and get her belongings, and I fear that Hiashi-san won't be happy about her not receiving the seal, so we are going to escort her."

"Oh okay then that makes sense." Naruto said.

A few minutes later, Hinata arrived and the group left to go get her belongings from the Hyuga compound. Hinata went in to try and get through the episode without problem, but as Murphy's Law states: It didn't happen that way.

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With Hinata

"Hello, Hiashi-san." Said Hinata as she walked into her former house.

"Hinata." Hiashi replied with a glare. "Please come with me to receive your seal now."

"Actually Hiashi-san, you cannot do that-by order of Hokage-sama."

"You can't fool me girl. That old fool has no say in any clan affairs; I can do anything I wish to you because you are a Hyuga."

It was at this moment that a large vortex of leaves surrounded Hinata, revealing Hiruzen, Itachi, Naruto, and Sasuke, the latter 3 having their Sharingan activated.

"You are right, Hyuga-san, this _old fool_ doesn't have a say in any clan related matters; I do, however, control the fate of all other citizens and shinobi in this village." Hiruzen said with a cold stare towards Hiashi.

"Yes, and your point?" Hiashi said with an annoyed tone.

"Hinata, as of this morning, is no longer a Hyuga. That being said, I have authority over her, and she will not be given your cursed seal. For you to do so would be assault on a civilian of Konoha, which is a crime punishable by imprisonment." Hiruzen replied with a smirk.

"She is my daughter and as such I have the final say on what happens to her."

"Wrong. According to Hinata-san here, you officially disowned and banished her this morning; which makes her no longer a Hyuga, nor your daughter. You _will not _touch her." Itachi said as the 3 tomoe in his eyes began to spin rapidly while he glared at Hiashi.

"You have no right to speak her _Uchiha_! I will do as I please within my clan!" Hiashi said as he stepped towards Itachi and activated his Byakugan. The next second found a tanto at Hiashi's throat, courtesy of Itachi.

"You make one more step and I will paint these walls with your blood." Itachi said barely louder than a whisper. Hiashi wasted no time in deactivating his Byakugan and backing away from Itachi.

"Now Hyuga-san, Hinata-san is going to retrieve her personal belongings, and you will not speak again. Furthermore, after we leave here, she has a restraining order against you. If you break the restraining order, your life is forfeit." Hiruzen said as Hinata left to get her things. After only a few minutes, Hinata came back out with a backpack full of her things and the group left as Hiashi glared at them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that night

After they retrieved her few belongings from her old house, Naruto and Hinata went back to their house to get her settled in. The room she chose was already furnished, so she didn't have to buy furniture or anything; all she had to buy now (besides groceries, she refused to eat instant ramen for every meal) was new clothes, as she left all of her old ones save for the ones she wore at Hiashi's house.

Her outfit now, rather than the bulky coat and blue pants she used to wear, was now a lavender tank top shirt over a chainmail t-shirt, and a pair of blue short shorts, with chainmail leggings that stopped just above the knees. She had decided on the outfit after Naruto told her that she shouldn't try to hide herself because she was really pretty. Of course she fainted after hearing that, once again worrying Naruto about her health. Poor oblivious Naruto…

Hinata was actually quite nervous about living with her crush, as was to be expected. They were both too young for anything inappropriate, but it still made her feel weird about moving in with him at 8 years old.

Naruto, for his part, tried his best to help Hinata settle in and be comfortable, but had little luck in calming her down. He figured she would get better once the shock wore off, after all, it's not every day that you get kicked out of home at 8 and have to move in with a friend.

It didn't take long for Hinata for fall asleep after she was settled in, all of the day's happenings had worn her out.

The next day, Naruto and Hinata both got up and got ready for their day. Naruto wished Hinata luck before he left to meet with Itachi.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Team Itachi.

"Today, I will be working on your taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, and developing Sasuke's Sharingan to the 3 tomoe stage." Itachi said to Naruto and Sasuke. "Both of you will have your Sharingan active this whole day. Now I'd like to see you 2 spar, don't hold back."

Naruto and Sasuke then turned to face each other and gave a small bow.

"Begin." Said Itachi as the two boys charged at each other.

Sasuke quickly pulled out several shuriken and launched them at Naruto, who had no problem in dodging them due to his Sharingan. They continued to run towards each other until they met and Sasuke launched a series of punches and kicks at Naruto, who again dodged them all. Naruto finally saw an opening in Sasuke's stance and punched him in the chest, knocking him up into the air. Naruto followed through his punch and grabbed Sasuke's shins, spinning and planting him into the ground hard before flipping back into his ready-stance.

Sasuke didn't stay down long before standing back into his own stance before Itachi spoke. "Sasuke, calm down a bit and think about your actions rather than rushing in."

Sasuke nodded his head and the boys ran at each other again. Sasuke indeed slowed down his strikes and sent them with more precision, but it did little good as Naruto could see them coming and either block or dodge them. Naruto once more mounted a counter-attack and quickly subdued Sasuke once more. Sasuke managed to last a few minutes this time but with Naruto's superior Sharingan, he made quick work of picking apart Sasuke's guard.

"Okay that will be all for now. You have 10 minutes to rest before we move on to shurikenjutsu."

So the 2 boys spent the next 10 minutes sitting under a tree and drinking water while they chatted about their training.

Once the rest was over, Itachi had them lined up in front a large log, throwing kunai and shuriken at them. It only took a couple of hours for the boys to both hit nothing but the bullseye. After a short break for lunch, Itachi had the boys spar once more, this time allowing them to use ninjutsu as well.

They stood a few feet apart from each other staring each other down for a moment before Sasuke began doing hand seals. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu." He said as he fired off several volleyball sized fireballs at Naruto.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!" Naruto shouted as he spat out a wall of water to block the firedballs. They crashed into the wall of water, creating a shroud of steam around the area. Sasuke instantly went on guard, as he couldn't see through the steam. It proved to pay off as several shuriken flew out of the steam towards him. He quickly pulled out a kunai and knocked them down before spinning and blocking a strike from Naruto who also had a kunai in his hand. They locked into another taijutsu bout for a moment before Sasuke flew back and launched the kunai he had at Naruto. Naruto ducked under the kunai before throwing his own towards Sasuke. Sasuke easily sidestepped the kunai and was confused when he saw Naruto smirk. The next thing he knew he felt the cold point of a blade against his neck.

"How?" Sasuke asked in bewilderment.

"When the stream obscured your vision, I henged a clone into that kunai. After you dodged it, he changed back and here we are." Naruto said with a smile.

"Hmm. Good job, for a loser." Sasuke said as he let himself smile as well."

"Good job both of you. The final thing on today's agenda is to for you two to spar against me." Itachi stepped up and said with a rare smirk."

"_SHIT!" _Both boys thought at once as Itachi unleashed a wave of shuriken at them.

As intended, the shuriken split the boys apart. "Kagebunshin no Jutsu." Said Itachi as a single clone appeared beside him. The real Itachi leapt towards Naruto while the clone shot off towards Sasuke.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

With Naruto

"_Damn, I have to get back to Sasuke if we are to last more than 1 minute against him!" _Naruto screamed in his head as he was forced to jump in the air to dodge another several shuriken. Before he could make it back to the ground, Itachi was upon him, delivering a powerful kick into his chest. Naruto flew backwards into a tree and slumped over on to the ground trying to regain his breath. As soon as he started to stand back up he was forced to substitute himself with a log to avoid a massive fireball courtesy of Itachi. Once he was out of the way of the fireball he shunshinned himself across the field to Sasuke's position, hoping to defeat the clone and doubleteam the real Itachi. Unfortunately as he phased into existence beside Sasuke he was met with a vicious backhand to the face that rolled him across the field and left him unmoving.

"One down." Itachi said as he kicked Sasuke in the side and rocketed him through a tree several feet away.

"And there's two."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto's mindscape.

"**What do you want Kit**" The gigantic fox growled out to Naruto.

"I need some of your chakra, but without wanting to kill everything in sight." Replied Naruto.

"**Absolutely not. You are in no danger of dying, therefore I am in no danger of dying.**"

"I don't care what I am! I need some chakra to see how I stack up with the boost."

"**I refuse.**"

At this point, for some reason, Naruto's Sharingan shifted into the form of his Mangekyo, though he didn't even realize it. "You will give me your chakra, and leave me in control. You've been freeloading for far too long, so I demand rent." He said firmly.

"**As you wish.**" Kurama said in a monotone voice.

"_Strange… he was just arguing and then gave in so easy. Oh well, no reason to look a gifthorse in the mouth."_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks for all the reviewers.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Double Release! (Cheers erupt from everywhere) Hope you all enjoy the next installment of **_**What Could've Been.**_

**I don't own Naruto. I called Kishi to talk about it, and he killed me through the phone for such an awful offer. Apparently a paperclip, 3 pennies, and a rubberband is not enough to purchase the manga.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Itachi had just returned from the woods and sat Sasuke down against a tree and was on his way to collect Naruto when red chakra started floating off of Naruto in waves before forming into 3 tails.

"_Can he control the Kyuubi's chakra or did the seal weaken?" _Itachi pondered slightly worried.

"Wow, this is nice." Said Naruto with a smile as he felt the 9 tailed demon's chakra flowing through him without the bestial instints.

"Naruto is that you?"

"Yes Itachi sensei. I talked the fox into loaning me his chakra to see how we match up with his power."

"I see. Are you ready then?" Said Itachi before they both disappeared in a blur.

They clashed towards the middle of the field as Naruto threw a punch at Itachi only to have it blocked. The force of the blow did however blow Itachi back several feet.

As Itachi was sliding backwards he began to make handseals, and much to his surpise, Naruto began to copy them with his Mangekyo Sharingan active.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" (**Grand Fireball) **They both said at the same time before blasting out a massive stream of fire at each other. They clashed in the middle and battled for dominance for a brief moment before Naruto's won and Itachi was forced to substitute himself with a log.

"Bunshin Daibakuha." **(Clone Great Explosion)** Itachi said as he formed 2 shadow clones beside him that instantly rushed at Naruto.

Naruto simply launched himself towards the shadow clones, intent on clawing through them to dispel them. As soon as he got into range for a strike, he heard one of the clones speak one simple word "Boom."

Naruto was blown back out of the clearing and through a tree from exploding clones in such close proximity.

Itachi wasn't the most feared shinobi in Konoha for no reason. He knew that with the fox's chakra shroud that Naruto wasn't down for the count. It proved to be a smart move, as even though he was prepared, and using his Sharingan, he barely had time to dodge the rocket that was Naruto's fist as the blonde shot out of the woods.

Naruto, realizing he missed, tried to stop and turn back for another attack, but he had for too much momentum and continued sliding across the ground backwards before he sucked in a big breath that made his chest swell out.

"_What jutsu could this be that requires no hand seals? Damned fox." _Itachi thought as he flashed through a set of hand seals for his own jutsu.

Naruto released the breath he had sucked in, and along with it a stream of white flames the size of a schoolbus, aimed right at Itachi.

Itachi finished his seals and gathered all the chakra he could manage before a dragon made of water that rivaled the size of Naruto's flamethrower rose out of the nearby pond and crashed into the flamethrower, covering the entire field in steam. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu." Itachi huffed out. He didn't have a very large chakra reserve, and that last technique took a lot out of him. He knew he'd have to finish this quick.

He didn't get long to ponder on the issue before he was forced to dodge several volkswagon sized fireballs coming through the steam that shrouded the area. It was thick enough that even Itachi couldn't see through it, so he figured Naruto was just firing blindly at him.

"_What to do… I can't keep up this fight with him for long. I hate to use the Mangekyo on him but I think it may be necessary. I think I've got it."_ Itachi thought as he continued dodging the fireballs that never seemed to end.

"Kagebunshin No Jutsu." Itachi said as a clone appeared beside him and took off at blinding speeds into the steam. "Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu." Itachi said before disappearing under the ground.

The Itachi clone charged straight at the source of the fireballs and threw several shuriken towards Naruto.

Naruto let out a chakra-laced roar that knocked the kunai down before launching a red chakra arm towards the clone, catching it before he could move. Naruto grinned since he had just won this match, until the Itachi in his hand 'poofed' away. Before he could react, the real Itachi jumped out of the ground in front of him and the 2 made eye contact.

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Tsukiyomi world.

Naruto found himself pinned to a cross as he looked out at the landscape he was in. Everything was made up of black and white, and accented by a blood red moon.

"_Genjutsu?" _Naruto thought to himself as he took in the visage. "Kai!" He said as he tried to pulse his chakra to cancel it, to no avail.

"Naruto-kun. I must congratulate you on a good fight thus far, no one has yet forced me to use this technique. This is the most powerful genjutsu in the world. In here, I control everything; time, matter, and ever space." Itachi said in an echoing voice as his Mangekyo Sharingan appeared on the moon.

The next thing Naruto knew, he was face to face with Itachi. "One day you too will be able to perform this technique. But now, I shall use it to win. In here, 72 hours will only amount to 1 second in the real world. Now for the next three days you will be forced to watch me eat ramen, and you will have none! HAHA!" Itachi said with an evil laugh. (**Hey he just wants to win the match. And maybe have some fun. Not destroy Naruto's brain.**)

"NOOOO! That is inhumane!" Naruto cried out as anime tears began to flow down his cheeks.

Itachi then materialized an exact copy of Ichiraku's and sat down "Hey old man! One miso ramen with pork!" He yelled out, mimicking Naruto.

"NO PLEASE I CAN'T TAKE THIS!" Naruto yelled as he struggled to break free.

Itachi looked at him with an evil smirk before devastating bowl after bowl after bowl of ramen. It was never ending and in his world, he would never get full.

It only took 2 hours of torture before Naruto passed out and slumped over on the cross. Itachi promptly chuckled and ended the genjutsu as the victor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto's mindscape- be warned, this section contains a highly pissed demon fox that intends to swear. Bunches.

"**FUCKING INSOLENT LITTLE HUMAN! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU IF YOU EVER HYPNOTIZE ME WITH THOSE GODDAMNED ACCURSED EYES AGAIN!"** Kurama roared with an anger and killing intent that no human had ever witnessed before.

Naruto managed to somehow stay conscious, which spoke volumes about his testicular fortitude, but he was shaken to his very core and couldn't manage to make his mouth produce words.

"**Don't just fucking stair at me! Explain yourself before I rip your head off and shit down your neck!"** The fox continued raging.

'Gulp' "I-I-I don't-" **"Don't fucking stutter in my presence!"**

At this point Naruto almost lost control of his bladder. "I don't know what you mean by hypnotizing you, fox."

"**Bullshit! And don't call me fox you disrespectful little shit! You will address me as Kurama-sama!"**

"How the hell did I hypnotize you? I asked for you chakra and you agreed."

"**The hell I did! Your fucking **_**Sharingan**_** invaded my brain and forced me!"**

"I barely know how to use the Sharingan, much less brainwash the strongest of all demons!" Naruto replied, getting angry at the fox for his 'false' accusations.

"**Dammit I don't know how you did it but you hypnotized me!"**

"I don't believe you!"

"**I'll fucking eat you!" **roared Kurama as he shot his giant paw out and slammed it down at Naruto, missing by mere inches.

"What the hell?! Give me a chance to explain here!"

"**There's no explaining! You-"**

"Shut the hell up! This is my mind and I am in charge! I will only tell you one more time; I didn't do anything to you!"

The fox simply growled and reached a tail to Naruto's forehead. Naruto now knew the fox couldn't hurt him so he allowed it to happen. Suddenly the tail touched his forehead and there was a white flash then everything was dark… he was asleep.

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Flashback

He was suddenly awoken by the sound of footsteps on water. His body acted on it's own, opening it's eyes to reveal… him and began speaking. **"What do you want Kit?"**

"I need some of your chakra, but without wanting to kill everything in sight." 'Naruto' replied

**His body once again spoke on its own "Absolutely not. You are in no danger of dying, therefore I am in no danger of dying.**"

"I don't care what I am! I need some chakra to see how I stack up with the boost." 'Naruto' replied once more.

"**I refuse." **Current Naruto's body spoke again

At this point Naruto(from Kurama POV) witnessed the three tomoe in Naruto(flashback Naruto)'s eyes begin to spin rapidly before they merged into the familiar pattern of his Mangekyo. "You will give me your chakra, and leave me in control. You've been freeloading for far too long, so I demand rent." He said in a commanding voice.

That was the end of it as Naruto(Kyuubi)'s mind focused on one thing only. "Obey." He thrn felt the chakra being pulled from his body freely. Everything then flashed white once more

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Flashback end

"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked, stunned by what he just saw.

"**That, Kit, our meeting earlier from my perspective. Do you admit to using those damned eyes on me now?"**

"I can't deny it, but I had no idea I was doing that… Sometimes these eyes act on their own accord. Believe me, I don't intend to make your stay any more unpleasant than need be, I may need your help sometimes. I apologize for what happened."

"**I can sense that you tell the truth, so I will let it slide, BUT JUST THIS ONCE!" **Kurama started calmly and then exploded at the end. **"But still, don't expect me to freely help you now. You haven't earned any respect from me."**

"I understand. I'll be seeing you later, Kurama-san."

"**That is Kurama-SAMA to you brat!"**

"As you just said, -sama is a term of respect, and you haven't earned my respect yet." Naruto said with a cocky grin.

"**This is understandable. Begone so that I may nap.**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the academy

Hinata sat boredly at her table listening to Iruka talk about the 5 different elemental countries. It was quite a drag without Naruto and Sasuke, but they had dropped out for a 'fasttrack ANBU school'. Deep down she wished she could follow their path, but they were special prodigies, she just wasn't good enough.

"_sigh. Naruto-kun… Sasuke-kun… one day I will be able to stand beside you, instead of walking behind you. But how?" _Thought Hinata as she zoned out from the lesson. She needed help to catch up to her friends, but who could teach her? She has good chakra control so she would make a good genjutsu user, to supplement her jyuken.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a dango shop on the other side of Konoha

"Achoo!" The noise came from a woman who some would argue to be the most beautiful women in all of Konoha. She was around the age of 22 with deep red eyes, brown hair that dipped just below her shoulders, and a red one-armed shirt underneath a white sash-like dress that stopped just above her thighs. She also wore chainmail under the outfit, hiding her cleavage and upper thighs.

"Bless you Nai-chan!" Came the enthusiastic voice of the woman who was arguable the second most beautiful lady in the village, even if she was hated by a large crowd for reasons beyond her control. She was around 18 years old and wore a simple chainmail t-shirt and short shorts. She also wore a knee-length trench coat that was open down the middle, leaving little to the imagination. On the lower half she wore an orange mini-skirt, that like the trench coat, left little to the imagination.

"Thanks Ko-chan, someone must be talking about me." Kurenai said as she rubbed her nose.

"I wonder if it was a man?" Anko replied with mischievous eyes and a large grin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back with Team Itachi.

Itachi was sitting back against a tree, waiting for the injured youth that formed his team to wake up. Naruto was beginning to stir, so he figured that he would be the first to wake, even if he had suffered severe(to him) mental trauma, since he had the fox to heal his issues. Sasuke had just taken a shot to head in their brief fight, so he wouldn't be too far behind Naruto.

After about 5 more minutes of waiting Naruto opened his eyes and looked around to regain his bearings. He then remembered the awful episode that had knocked him out in the first place, and began to scream and sob more anime tears.

"Naruto-kun calm down." Itachi said in his normal stoic voice.

Naruto kept on crying.

"Naruto-kun!" Itachi spoke up a bit now.

Naruto continued to cry.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu." Itachi calmly said after doing some handseals before he spat out a small water dragon that hit Naruto and drenched him.

"AHH what the hell?" Yelled the now soaked Naruto, breaking out of his ramen-induced hysteria.

"Okay then. You were spazzing over my genjutsu earlier."

Naruto's eyes widened again at the thought. "Oh God that was terrible… Itachi-sensei you are a sadist I swear."

Itachi couldn't help but chuckle at that. It seemed that he was feeling happy a lot more than normal here lately for some reason. "I was running out of chakra facing off against you with the Kyuubi, so I had to end the fight fast. By the way, how did you manage to use it's chakra so well?"

"I subconsciously hypnotized it with the Mangekyo. Is there any way you can teach me more about the Mangekyo, because I didn't even know I had used it until I talked to him again."

"I will work on that soon. We have much to cover over the next couple of years, so I will work it in." replied Itachi as Sasuke began to stir.

"Ahh welcome back Sasuke-kun." Itachi said to his little brother as he started to look around.

"Oww. I assume we lost the spar?" said Sasuke with a chuckle.

"Oh yea. Bad." Naruto replied as he let out his own chuckle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Hinata.

Iruka finally decided to end his discussion and dismissed the class for the day, and Hinata was happy to finally get home. She hoped Naruto was done training for the day and was already at home waiting.

"_Naruto-kun… waiting on me… at OUR home." _She thought with a blush and a smile.

On the way home she decided to stop at a dango shop to pick up some dinner for Naruto and herself, since she forbid Naruto from having ramen every meal.

Once she walked in she saw 2 beautiful young ladies sitting at the table over in the corner. They looked familiar somehow, but she couldn't recognize them off the top of her head. The old Hinata would've shied away but with her newfound confidence, she approached them.

"Hello there. Sorry that I don't know your names, but I feel as if I recognize you somehow." She said as she walked up to the 2 women in the corner.

It was Anko who chose to reply. "I don't recall ever seeing you before gaki. Judging by those eyes of yours you're a Hyuga, so I don't figure that your mighty clan would have ever paid me any mind."

"Ko-chan! Be nice to her!" Kurenai replied. Now she was never fond of the Hyuga before, due to their attitude, and when she heard that the clan head had disowned his own daughter it drove the nail in the coffin.

"Actually, I am Hinata Namikaze now. I was disowned from the Hyuga clan." Replied the white-eyed youth.

"Namikaze? As in the Yondaime Namikaze?" Kurenai asked. She, like all teenage girls at the time had a crush on Minato during his life.

"Yes. His son, Naruto, took me in since he had plenty of rooms to spare in the Namikaze estate."

"Aren't you a bit young to be living with your boyfriend?" Anko asked playfully, making Hinata blush a dark shade of red.

"H-H-He's not my b-boyfriend. Only a f-friend."

"Sounds like you aren't happy about that?" Anko continued, her smile getting bigger and more evil every second.

"Anko leave the poor girl alone. I am Kurenai Yuhi, nice to meet you Hinata. I'm sorry to hear about your clan."

Anko 'hmph'ed' at Kurenai before Hinata decided to reply. "Anyways I'm sorry I bothered you two, I could've swore that I recognized you from somewhere but I guess not." She said as she bowed and turned to leave.

"Wait a second Hinata, you are in the ninja academy right?"

"Yes."

"Since you are, err… were, a Hyuga, I am sure that you have already extensively studied chakra control, yes?"

"Yes, I have very good control, as is standard in the _Hyuga_."

"How would you like to be my apprentice then? I would love to see the power of a Hyuga unrestricted by those laws that prevent you from learning anything but the clan style."

Hinata's eyes lit up a bit at hearing that. She had just found her ticket to catch up to Naruto and Sasuke.

"That's where I recognize you from… you are the Genjutsu Mistress, yes?" Hinata said.

"That I am. And this here is my friend Anko Mitarashi, the Snake Mistress, she will likely help with your training occasionally if you choose to accept. So what do you say about my offer?"

"It would be an honor to learn under such prestigious names. I accept."

"Good!" Kurenai said in a jovial tone with a large smile.

"Thank you Kurenai-sensei." Hinata said with a small bow.

"_Sensei… HELL NO I am NOT that old!" _Kurenai screamed in her head.

"Make it Nai-chan, I'm far too young to be called 'sensei'." Kurenai replied.

Hinata smiled a bit at the familiar nickname. "Thank you, Nai-chan."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Hopefully one of these days I will finish the 'buildup' chapters and get on to some good story. I believe I'll throw in a small timeskip next chapter to help things along. Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed.**

**Once more, thanks a ton to the reviewers, you guys and gals make it easier to write.**

**Erasels: Once again thank you for a great, honest review. I didn't want to control the Kyuubi in such a way, because I actually like the ole furball, but like you said, it was rather original and I feel like I halfway righted the wrong in this chapter.**

**As for the Hinata issue, I hope this chapter explained better. She is behind them too far to be in the program they are, but some extracurricular training from Kurenai for 3-4 years should help her fit in a bit better.**

**And lastly, the shunshin: Honestly it is a mysterious technique to me. It is supposedly a low rank technique, but is mainly only taught to chunin+; It is supposed to work by using chakra to 'amp up' muscles, which just makes you faster, but people use it to go 'through' walls and the such. I don't think the chakra control would have to be too great, given it's rank, but yea I believe even if it was than the Sharingan would help.**

**Gold testament: Yes I would say so. But by the time you read this, you should've already saw the rampage.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Welcome back for the next chapter of **_**What Could've Been. **_**I hope you all enjoy.**

**I still don't own Naruto, but I have plans in motion. Who am I kidding they won't work anyways.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Namikaze Naruto, please step forward." Said Hiruzen Sarutobi in a dark chamber surrounded by all of the village's ANBU.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Naruto replied as he stepped out of the shadows and stood at attention

At this point a new man, dressed in standard ANBU gear with a dog mask and a white cloak stepped forward.

"Please have a seat Namikaze." The man said.

"Hai, Tora-taichou." Naruto replied as he walked to the lone chair in the middle of the room.

Tora then handed Naruto a kunai and said "Cut your palm and pour some of your blood into this ink." as he held out a vial of black ink. Naruto cut his palm open without flinching and let the blood drain into the vial.

"And now your chakra." Tora commanded.

Naruto stuck his palm out over the vial and a blue haze swirled forth into the vial, making the ink glow blue momentarily.

"Namikaze Naruto, do you swear your allegiance solely to the village of Konoha and the Hokage?" Asked Tora.

"I do."

"And do you swear to do all that is in your power, up to and including forfeiting your very life to protect and defend this village and her people?"

"I do."

"Then by the power vested in me as the commander of Konoha's ANBU, I hereby welcome you to the brotherhood." Tora said as he began to mark Naruto with the standard ANBU tattoo on his left shoulder.

"It is an honor." Replied Naruto once the tattoo was complete.

"Please come with me to receive your mask and uniform."

"Hai, Taichou." Naruto replied as he stood up and the pair left the room.

After a short walk down a corridor they came to another room and entered it. Tora went to a shelf and returned with a bundle of clothes that he handed to Naruto. "Now pick your mask. Keep in mind that your mask will be your name as well at all times you are on duty. Also, your mask will be your lifeblood, as your identity is to remain unknown to all of those outside of ANBU."

Naruto scanned the wall in front of him for only a brief moment before he walked over and grabbed a fox mask off of the wall.

"I had a feeling you would choose that one. You know it has been 10 years since anyone wore that mask? The last 'Kitsune' took his own life shortly after the Kyuubi's attack, though I believe you will bring honor to it."

Naruto nodded before strapping his mask on and channeling chakra into in, making the inside clear so that he could see through it.

"Get dressed and meet me back in the main hall for Uchiha Sasuke's induction."

"Hai." Naruto said as Tora walked off and Naruto quickly changed into the black and grey ANBU gear before running off into the main hall to watch the procedure repeated for Sasuke.

Sasuke went through the same process as Naruto had just before, choosing the mask/name 'Taka'.

"I would like everyone to give congratulations to our newest member of Delta Squad: Kitsune and Taka." Tora said as the room erupted in cheers. "Weasel, Neko, would you like to meet your new teammates?"

Itachi and the ANBU with a cat mask and long purple hair stepped forward to the two boys and patted them on the shoulder. "Congratulations Kitsune, Taka. It is an honor to have you on my team." Itachi said.

"It is an honor to serve under you, Weasel-taichou." Sasuke and Naruto replied at the same time.

"Now gear up, you have 30 minutes to meet me at the north gate, we have a mission. By the way, don't get used to 30 minutes; when you are called you will be expected to be in front of Hokage-sama within 15 minutes no matter what you are doing."

"Hai, Taichou."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Hinata

"Try again." Anko said as she watched Hinata attack the training dummy in front of her.

"Sen'eijashu!" Hinata said as she stretched out her left hand towards the dummy, sending 2 snakes out towards it. The snakes wrapped around the dummy's torso and jerked it back towards Hinata before disappearing as she said "Hakke Sanjuni Sho."(**8 trigrams 32 palms) **Once the dummy reached her range. She then let loose a series of 32 chakra laced palm strikes, tearing it apart.

"Good job Hinata. Now I want you to spar against me." Anko said as she dropped into her ready stance.

Hinata quickly charged towards Anko and lashed out with several jyuken strikes, all of which Anko managed to dodge. Anko then retaliated with a kick to Hinata's ribcage, knocking her back several feet before she began doing hand seals. "Katon: Endan!" **(Flame Bullet)** She hollered out as she shot a large fireball towards Hinata.

Hinata quickly did her own hand seals and shouted "Suiton: Suijinheki!" before spitting out a wall of water to block the fireball. The attacks collided and produced steam that covered the field briefly. Anko quickly got into her defensive stance, ready for anything. Hinata, able to somewhat see through the steam, did a set of handseals and whispered "Suiton: Suigadan"(**Water Fang Bullet**) as the water droplets in the air formed into several drill-shaped balls of water and launched at Anko.

Anko was barely able to dodge the attack on instincts alone before she stuck out her arms and unleashed several snakes towards Hinata. Hinata dodged a couple of the snakes and killed a couple of them with palm strikes, but there was too many and she was caught by them. She struggled to break free, but was unable, as she was cut several times by a wave of kunai that Anko threw at her.

"Dammit!" Hinata cursed as Anko let the snakes loose and she fell to the ground.

"Don't get so upset gaki, you're still a few years too young to beat me, but you're doing good."

"Yea Hina-chan, you have progressed well these last 2 years. I think you'll be almost Jonin level by the time you graduate the academy." Kurenai added in as she patted Hinata on the shoulder.

"Thank you Nai-chan." Hinata replied with a smile.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm glad to see you made it quickly. This mission will be a simple one, kind of like a rite of passage to all new ANBU. We are to go north towards our borders and you two will destroy a bandit camp. ANBU do not usually do these type of missions but as I said, it is just to get you accustomed to the way we operate." Itachi said as Naruto and Sasuke appeared beside him.

Both boys simply nodded and the group took off out the gate without another word, Naruto out front, Sasuke in the back, Yugao in the left, and Itachi to the right.

After about 2 hours of travelling through the trees, Naruto held up a hand and the group stopped on a tree branch. Naruto began signing words to the rest of the group "_Small camp. 12 mercenaries, 1 chunin. I'll take the leader, Sasuke get bandits."_

Naruto noticed Sasuke give a nod over his shoulder and the 2 then disappeared from the tree in a blur.

Sasuke appeared right behind a group of the bandits that were sitting at a campfire eating. They never even noticed he was there until 3 of them fell to the ground without their heads. The other 3 in the group leapt up with crude rusty swords and went to attack him, but he simply ducked and dodged the blows before all 3 of them fell as well. Sasuke sheathed his tanto and blurred from existence once more to the tent where he could sense the rest of the men sleeping.

He looked up and saw Naruto appear outside of the leader's tent and give him a small nod. He then went through hand seals faster than the eye could follow and blew out a stream of fire over the sleeping men, killing them instantly.

The chunin leader of the camp heard the commotion outside and quickly ran out to see the fire. He was about to charge at Sasuke when he felt someone grab him from behind and felt the cold point of a blade at his neck.

"I'm sorry don't kill me! I'll give you anything; money, drugs, pow-"

"Pathetic." Said Naruto as the man's head rolled to the ground. With a quick look to Sasuke the pair then leapt to opposite ends of the base and did handseals in perfect sync, before blowing out a massive dragon made of flames. The 2 dragons ravished the camp and left nothing but ash their wake as Delta squad leapt away towards the village.

"Good job, both of you." Itachi said as they leapt from tree to tree.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning

4 figures clad in black and grey stood in a circle inside a fairly large clearing with walls built around it, ANBU training ground 4. On the walls in various places were large panels, each divided into 4 sections with the numbers 1-4 on them.

"This exercise will teach you to fight while paying attention to your surroundings. It will also teach you to fight with various partners. Finally, it will teach you that someone who is a comrade now, may not be in the next minute. Those panels on the wall will show 4 numbers lit up in various colors; when 2 or more numbers are the same color, that will be your team. Be sure to pay attention, because it will randomly change. I am 1, Neko is 2, Kitsune is 3, and Taka is 4… Begin." Itachi said as the panels lit up. 1 and 3 were blue while 2 was red and 4 was yellow. Itachi and Naruto quickly shared a look and leapt apart. Naruto appeared in front of Yugao and instinctively blocked a strike from her sword with his own.

Naruto and Yugao then engaged in a kenjutsu battle for a moment before Naruto broke away and leapt back to gain some distance while doing handseals. "Fuuton: Daitoppa." (**Great Breakthrough) **Naruto said as he blew out a large wave of wind. Yugao quickly leapt up and over the blade of wind and charged towards Naruto before splitting into 3 copies of herself. The 2 clones blurred from existence as Yugao jumped into air. The 3 appeared beside Naruto with impressive speed and slashed into him as Yugao said "Mikazuki no Mai!"** (Dance of the Crescent Moon)**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Itachi appeared in front of Sasuke already doing handseals, and said "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu." As he blew out a large fireball. Sasuke barely had time to jump to the side and avoid the fireball before Itachi appeared beside him and kicked him in the face, launching him up into the sky. Just as Sasuke reached the peak and began to fall, Itachi was there again and dropped an axe kick onto his stomach, shooting him back towards the ground. Just as he was about to slam into the ground, Itachi appeared again and punched him in the chest, only for Sasuke to disappear in a poof of smoke. Itachi quickly ducked to the side as a wave of lightning passed over him. "Raiton: Raifu."**(Lightning Breeze)** Sasuke said as the attack dispersed.

It was then that the numbers changed again; 1 blue, 2, 3, and 4 yellow.

Naruto stopped mid strike on Yugao and the 2 blurred away to face down Itachi.

Yugao quickly went in attacking with her katana while Naruto and Sasuke both sat back waiting for an opening. Finally Yugao left an opening and Itachi wasted no time in kicking her in the face, rocketing her back away from him. As soon as she was gone he heard Naruto and Sasuke speak simultaneously "Futon: Renkudan!**(Drilling Air Bullet)**/ Raiton: Raifu!"

Sasuke shot out his wave of lightning and it quickly wrapped around Naruto's air bullets, making the attacks faster and larger. "Raifu no Dangan!" **(Lightning breeze bullets) **Naruto said as he fired of several of the lightning bullets. Itachi dodged most of them with ease, only taking 1 good hit. He then began doing handseals and said "Katon: Hosenka Bofu no Jutsu."(**Phoenix Flower Storm)** As he spat out hundreds of balls of fire that swirled and danced about the field, making it impossible to dodge them all. Naruto and Sasuke were both burned in several places before the attack ended. Once more the 2 started doing hand seals and simultaneously said "Katon: Karyu Endan!" (**Fire Dragon Missile) **before they each spat out a large stream of fire that morphed into the shape of a dragon.

Itachi quickly began to run, jump, and dodge the large creatures as they chased him around the field. He eventually managed to maneuver himself beside Sasuke, and with a violent kick, knocked him across the field towards Naruto. Naruto saw him coming and had to dispel his attack and jump to avoid him, but before he could hit the ground Itachi was on him. Itachi placed a foot into his solar plexus and drove him into the ground fiercely, creating a large crater. Once they touched the ground Itachi leapt into the air with practiced ease, avoiding a swipe from Sasuke's tanto, before flipping back to the ground and smashing Sasuke in the back of the head with an elbow, knocking him unconscious.

Itachi then went around the field and gathered his 3 partners up and waited for them to regain consciousness. After only a few minutes Yugao awoke, and then began to heal the other 2. After several minutes the whole team was conscious once again and they all went their separate ways.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto walked through the door of his house to the smell of delicious food cooking. _"Damn I never get over that. This must be what it's like to have a real family."_ He thought with a small smile.

"Naruto-kun you're just in time!" Came the voice of Hinata.

Naruto shunshinned from the door of the house straight into the kitchen, with anime tears streaming down his face. "That smells great, Hinata-chan, what is it?"

"Ramen. It's your celebration dinner for making ANBU." Hinata said with a smile. "Since we didn't get to do it yesterday."

Naruto then wrapped Hinata in a hug, which made her blush, and yelled "Thanks Hinata-chan! You're the best friend ever!"

"You earned it Naruto-kun. It's not every day that someone makes ANBU at 10 years old."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Not much to say here. I didn't really like the way this chapter turned out, but I hope you guys liked it.**

**If anyone is interested I need a beta reader.  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Welcome back once again. Here's another filler/training chapter before I dive back into the good stuff.**

**I'm sure no one forgot my Narutoownerlessness disorder.**

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto awoke to a familiar sensation of chakra tingling from the ANBU tattoo on his left shoulder. He rolled over and looked at his alarm clock and let out a groan. "Ugh. What could be happening at 3 in the morning?" He muttered to himself, though he knew after his few months in ANBU that a lot happened at weird hours.

He quickly slid out of bed and channeled some chakra to the seal tattoo that was on his forearm, making his ANBU uniform and mask appear in a poof of smoke. In just a few minutes he was dressed and walked out the door of his house to appear in the Hokage's office.

In short order the rest of his team was standing beside him before Hiruzen spoke. "I have called you here tonight because the Yamanaka clan heiress has been kidnapped. We are unsure of who the assailants are at the moment, but Delta Squad is our best team, so I trust you to complete the job."

"Hai, Hokage-sama, it shall be done." Itachi said before him and his team shunshinned away. They reappeared at the Yamanaka compound where they were directed north by the ANBU patrol that was investigating the scene. Once more they were gone in a blur. After just a few minutes they picked up on the trail of the group. Shortly after, Itachi signaled for the group to stop. They all noticed that there was a group of 6 people in the clearing in front of them with Ino bound by wire, and they could sense 2 more further ahead.

"_Neko take the 2 furthest north. I'll get the 3 furthest west. Taka take the 2 in the center. Kitsune take out the 1 by the girl and get her out."_ Itachi said to them in sign language. They all nodded, and then with a flick of the wrist by Itachi, they were gone.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Yugao landed down behind the 2 men who had broke apart from group with her katana drawn and in a battle stance. The men sensed her land and instantly turned and dropped into their own stanc before one of them spoke up. "To what do we owe the pleasure, Konoha-san?" the man said sarcastically. Yugao responded by dashing towards them in a blur. The second man jumped back out of the way while the first pulled a kunai and went to deflect her strike. She swung down and the sound of metal hitting metal was heard only briefly before the man fell to the ground dead and she said "Mikazuki no Mai."

She then stuck her sword in the ground and did a set of handseals before leaping towards the second man. He dropped to a defensive stance with a kunai, but was shocked when she seemingly disappeared. He went to make a ram seal to dispel a genjutsu, but found that he couldn't move his hands. "What the hell is this?" He said outloud as he noticed that he was trapped to a tree.

"Magen: Jubaku Satsu" **(Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death)** Yugao said as she slid her upper body out of the trunk of tree and slit the man's throat with her katana.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Itachi leapt down into the clearing right between the 3 men that were clustered around their campfire. Before they even knew he was there one of them slumped to the ground dead, with a kunai sticking out of the base of his skull. The other 2 quickly flung several shuriken and kunai at him, but as soon as they hit he dissolved in a flock of ravens and reformed right behind them. Itachi quickly buried another kunai into one of the men before the other turned around and swung at him with a kunai of his own. Once again Itachi disappeared in a flock of ravens, and reappeared behind the man, with a kunai buried in his brain.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke appeared between the 2 men that were standing and talking away from the main group, and went to stab one of them with a kunai, but was blocked. The man who blocked his kunai threw a punch at Sasuke's face while the other man tried to sweep his feet. In a show of athleticism Sasuke jumped and rolled his body to the side, avoiding both attacks, before he launched his elbow up and into the jaw of the man who punched at him. The force of the blow made the man's head snap back and he stuttered backwards just a bit, but it was all Sasuke needed as he grabbed the man and twisted his body around, putting it in the path of a kunai in the other man's hands. The kunai buried itself to the hilt in the man's chest as Sasuke pushed him off and appeared beside the second man and ended his life with a kunai to the throat.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto dropped from the trees beside the man who was holding Ino. "Don't worry honey, I won't be too rough as long as you help me out." He heard the man say. It made his blood boil that the man was thinking of raping a 10 year old girl.

"Let her go you bastard." Naruto growled out to the man.

"And if I don't? Like a kid like you could hurt me." The man replied with a smirk. It was then that the rest of Naruto's team dropped from the trees and killed his men. His eyes went wide briefly as he realized that he was going to die. He quickly grabbed Ino and held a kunai to her throat. "Move and I kill the girl!" He said in a last ditched effort to live.

Naruto smirked behind his mask a bit before there was a poof of smoke and the man was now holding a clone while Naruto held the bound Ino. Naruto's eyes then changed to the form of his Mangekyo as he made eye contact with the man. 2 seconds later the man fell to the ground with his eyes glazed over, after being skinned alive for 3 days straight in the Tsukiyomi world. Naruto then proceeded to seal the man into a scroll and free Ino, before he picked her up bridal style and the group departed from the clearing.

A few minutes after they left out, Ino started to stir. "What happ- AHHHH! LET ME DOWN YOU JERK!" she yelled as she started to beat Naruto.

"Ino-san-" Said Naruto before the screams drowned it out.

"AHHHH!"

"Ino-san would you-"

"AHHHH!"

"INO! Calm down!"

"You kidnapped me and you expect me to calm down?!"

"Actually, he rescued you." Sasuke added.

"_Is that…"_ "Sasuke-kun?"

"_Shit." _Sasuke thought as he looked to Itachi for help. Itachi simply nodded his head and turned his eyes to Naruto too.

"Yea it's me. Naruto is the one who saved you though." Sasuke said as he removed his mask.

"Naruto? The dead last Naruto?"

Naruto then pulled his mask off and let Ino see him while she was still in his arms.

"_No it's the sexy Naruto!" _Ino thought with a small blush.

"No, Kitsune Naruto, ANBU operative, though no one else is to know that." Naruto said while she made googly eyes back and forth between him and Sasuke.

"Y-You guys are in ANBU? Wow we are the same age and…" Ino said

"Yes, but like I said, that is a secret." Naruto said.

"We only revealed ourselves because you recognized my voice." Sasuke added.

"Oh I'm sorry about that."

"No worries. Just don't tell anyone, and I mean ANYONE, else. Not even Sakura."

"How did-"

"We have to know all the shinobi and shinobi-to-be in this village." Naruto said.

Ino picked this random moment to notice that she was still being carried by Naruto, and blushed rather heavily.

"Umm Naruto-kun, could you put me down?" _"Damn did I just call him Naruto-kun?"_

"Sure thing." Said Naruto as he lowered her to her feet. _"She just called me Naruto-kun… just great." _He thought with a mental scowl.

Things went pretty silent after that, Naruto and Sasuke put their masks back on and dropped Ino off at her father's house, before going to the Hokage's office to report.

"Hello Hokage-sama." Said Itachi as he and his team appeared in front of Hiruzen's desk.

"Delta Squad, I'm sure you have a good report yes?"

"Yes. The threat has been eliminated. They appeared to be just a group of missing nin. We brought back the leader for interrogation."

"And the girl?"

"She has been returned, and possibly betrothed." Said Itachi with a chuckle.

"How so?"

"She figured out the identity of 2 of our operatives, and I think the fell for Kitsune."

At that, the aged Hokage couldn't help but laugh. "Naruto-kun sure does have a way with people."

Naruto couldn't help but blush a bit, which was seen by everyone since they had removed their masks to report.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, you are a nice young man, it will happen. Your father had this problem too." Hiruzen said.

"Hmph." Naruto pouted.

"Anyways, thank you all for resolving this issue so quickly, you may be dismissed." Hiruzen said as everyone but Naruto left via shunshin.

"Goodnight loverboy." Hiruzen said with a chuckle.

Naruto released a low growl, making Hiruzen break into full blown laughter. After just a second, Naruto actually let out a little smile himself.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, all good shinobi have to deal with it."

"Yea I guess, but I already kinda like Hinata-chan, so the others are wasting their time." Naruto declared

"Actually, since you are the last of both the Uzumaki and Namikaze, you fall under the clan restoration act." Hiruzen said in a teasing tone.

"Clan restoration act?"

"It means that if a man is the last of his clan, then he may take more than 1 wife." Hiruzen replied, still teasing.

"B-But I-I uhhh." Naruto started before losing consciousness because of the blood shooting from his nose.

"Well well Naruto-kun is a closet perv. Who woulda thought." Hiruzen said to himself as he picked Naruto up and took him home to bed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking and turned to his alarm clock to see that it was 8:00.

"Hmm. Glad I don't have anything to do today." Said Naruto to himself as he rolled out of bed and headed downstairs in nothing but his sleeping shorts.

"Good morning Hinata-chan." He said with a smile once he got downstairs.

"Morning N-" Hinata started but feinted when she saw that Naruto was shirtless.

"Hinata-chan! Are you okay?!"

"I-I'm f-fine, Naruto-kun." She said once she regained consciousness. "I just… I uhh… remembered something Nai-chan told me."

"Oh okay then." Naruto said with an oblivious smile as he helped her up.

"So what are you doing today Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as they sat down for breakfast.

"I'm off today so I think I'm gonna try to finish the Rasengan today. What are you doing after school?"

"I'm going to train with Nai-chan and Ko-chan for a while."

"That's good" Naruto said with a genuine smile. "You're gonna be good by the time you graduate."

"Yea, I'm gonna show my clan that they were wrong for kicking me out!" Hinata declared as she walked out the door.

"You really wi- wait clan… ahh! Clan restoration act! JIJI!" Naruto shouted as the nosebleed set in once more.

After the nosebleed stopped Naruto cleaned himself up he went out to Hiruzen's office.

"Hello Naruto-kun, good morning." Hiruzen said as Naruto walked in.

"I hate you Jiji." Naruto replied with a mocking tone.

"And why is that?"

"Did you mean what you said about the clan restoration act?"

"Oh ho ho has Naruto-kun decided to have several wives?" Hiruzen said with a lecherous grin.

"NO! God this village was made by perverts!" Naruto replied with a blush on his face.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, we all have a little pervert in us. And the CRA is legitimate; it is made to be sure that our powerful clans and kekkai genkai don't die out."

"But I don't have a kekkai genkai Jiji."

"Well you do have the Sharingan, we don't know if the implanted eye spliced into your DNA enough to reproduce or not. You also have the Rasengan and the Hiraishin, 2 of the most powerful techniques in Konoha."

"Well… Well!... Hmph."

"Don't worry, no one will force you into anything, you should only marry out of love. The CRA just means you CAN love more than 1 girl, not that you have too."

"Oh okay then that'll be fine. I don't think I'll be able to love but 1 girl though."

"We'll see in time." Hiruzen replied, still with his lecherous grin.

"I'm going to the store to get some rubber balls to practice my rasengan, do you need anything Jiji?"

"No but thank you Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said as Naruto left through the door.

As soon as Naruto was out the door a new voice came through the window "Hey old man how's it goin?"

"Hello Jiraiya-kun, what brings you around?"

"Just dropping in. I see that the gaki is doing well for himself."

"Yes he is, he's already in ANBU and quite skilled, though it wouldn't hurt for you to stick around for a while and help him out. He just went into town to buy supplies to learn the Rasengan."

"I may can swing that, it would be almost impossible to learn the Rasengan on his own."

"Actually, he is already on the final step now. He is quite the shinobi, and a fast learner too. I'm glad Itachi took him in and trained him a couple of years ago."

"Itachi Uchiha?"

"Yes, Itachi trained Naruto-kun and Sasuke for the last 2 years."

"I see. I suppose I can stick around and help the gaki a bit."

Jiraiya and Hiruzen sat there catching up for a while before Naruto came back in the door with a sealing scroll in hand and an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Hey Jiji. Who's your guest?" Naruto said as he used a low power fire jutsu to light his cigarette.

"When did you start smoking Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked.

"I figured 'hey why not, since I can't get cancer because of the fox'."

"Ah good point I suppose. Anyways, this is Jiraiya, my old student."

"Nice to meet you Jiraiya-sama." Naruto said with a small bow.

"Nice to meet you too gaki. I'm glad at least one person shows me a bit of respect.

"Just because he doesn't know you yet." Hiruzen muttered under his breath, though Jiraiya and Naruto both heard it.

"I hate you sensei." Jiraiya said with a sweatdrop. "Anyways gaki, how would you like some help with the Rasengan?"

"It would be an honor to learn under one of the Sannin." Naruto said as he dropped his cigarette in Hiruzen's ashtray.

"I could get used to this kind of respect!" Jiraiya said with a large smile.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Hiruzen muttered again, causing Jiraiya to facefault.

"Okay gaki, meet me at training ground 1 in 15 minutes!" Said Jiraiya after he got up.

"How about we just go to my house and use the training field there?"

"No can do. I gotta be close to the hotsprings so I can do research for my books."

"Books?"

"Icha Icha, the best book in the elemental nations!"

Naruto just sweatdropped and walked out the door on his way to the training ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So Gaki, how good are you?" Jiraiya asked as he stood across from Naruto.

"Well I guess you know I'm ANBU so that says a lot doesn't it?"

"It means that you are good, but not Sannin good. Spar with me so that I know your abilities."

Naruto dropped to his battle stance and activated his Sharingan as Jiraiya stood still.

"Aren't you going to get in a stance?" Naruto asked.

"Nah, you won't touch me anyways, there's no need."

"I'll make you regret that!"

"Gaki you're a hundred years too young to lay a finger on me. Go whenever you're ready."

As soon as he said go Naruto blurred from existence and reappeared with his foot against Jiraiya's forearm, inches from his head.

"Gotta do better than that Gaki." Jiraiya said as he yawned.

"_Damn he's good. I guess he's not a Sannin for nothing."_ Naruto thought as he tried to form a plan in his head while Jiriaya just stood there.

Naruto then pulled out several shuriken and threw them towards Jiraiya, who dodged them without effort. Naruto then let out a growl and went through a set of hand seals and yelled out "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" as he blew out a large ball of fire towards Jiraiya. Jiraiya simply smirked a bit and stomped his foot to the ground, making a large wall of earth shoot up and block the attack.

"Damn you!" Naruto said as he launched another flurry of shuriken at Jiraiya. Jiraiya dodged these as well, before having to jump back quickly to avoid a kick from Naruto. Naruto then went through some handseals and called out "Futon: Renkudan!" before he started firing several air bullets at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya dodged the attacks before going through a set of handseals and called out "Katon: Endan!" as a large stream of fire left his mouth. Unknown to him though, Naruto copied the seals and used the jutsu at the same time. The 2 massive fireballs collided and the resulting explosion threw Naruto back several feet while Jiraiya stood firm.

Naruto jumped up and sped back towards Jiraiya in a blur before launching a kick at Jiraiya's head, which he just ducked under. He followed the kick with a backwards elbow that Jiraiya blocked with ease, before punching Naruto in the ribs with an audible crack and shooting him away.

"Okay Gaki, like I said, you're good, but not Sannin good. You're learning the Rasengan right?"

"Yea, my dad left me a scroll with it, I'm on the 3rd step already."

"Okay show me." Jiraiya said as Naruto pulled out his sealing scroll and unsealed a rubber ball. He started spinning his chakra inside the ball and after a second the ball deformed and then went flat.

"Not bad for learning on your own, you've almost got it, but let me give you a tip." Jiraiya said as he pulled a marker from ... somewhere and drew a Konoha symbol on Naruto's palm.

"What's that for?" Naruto asked.

"A focus point. The point of the Rasengan is to focus and compress a massive amount of chakra into a small point. Concentrate on the swirl, and it'll help. I'm going to research, find me if you finish that." Jiraiya said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto then tried once again, focusing on the leaf this time, and made it a lot longer before the ball popped.

"Hey it actually worked!" Naruto said with a smile as 100 shadow clones appeared in the clearing around him and started practicing.

It only took an hour with the clones before Naruto had it figured out, so he set off to find Jiraiya, which didn't take long. He found him sitting on a tree branch overlooking the female section of the hotsprings scribbling in a notebook and giggling.

"_Perv."_ Naruto thought as he leapt up to the tree beside Jiraiya. Jiraiya was so preoccupied with his research that he didn't even notice Naruto was there.

"Hey Ero-sensei, I'm done."

"SHHH you'll let em know we're here!" Jiraiya whispered.

"My bad. I'm done with the third step, what now?"

"Give me a minute here, sit back and enjoy the sights."

"You've got 5 minutes." Naruto said as he looked out at the ladies. _"Hmm this ain't so bad."_ Naruto thought as as his face turned red. _"Damn he's rubbing off on me!"_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Hope you all enjoyed.**

**ZyiareHellsing: I may do that, but I can't really see Hinata using the summons; except the Hidden shadow snakes.**

**Theonedevin: I have plans for Danzo soon. And as of now, he won't have the Rinnegan, but I may have a change of heart and work it in there.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Welcome back, I hope you all enjoy.**

**I don't own Naruto, if I did, then they would have closed-toe shoes.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Like what you see gaki?" Jiraiya said to Naruto, who was now lost in the visage of the hotspring.

"Yea unhuh." Naruto mindlessly bumbled out.

"Hey Gaki, we're sposed to be training." Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

"Mhm."

"So much passion at such a young age! It does my heart good!"

"Shhh!"

"Oh sorry. Wait, we have things to do come on!" Said Jiraiya as he grabbed Naruto and leapt off of the tree.

"_I never thought I would be the one to drag someone away from the hotsprings."_ Jiraiya thought with another chuckle.

"Now then, Ero-Gaki, show me the final step." Jiraiya said once they had both settled down.

Naruto grabbed a rubber ball out of his scroll and held it in his palm for a moment, nothing happened.

"Good job. All that's left is to do it with no balloon." Jiraiya said as he held his hand up and formed a Rasengan.

Naruto then concentrated on the leaf on his palm and started to spin the chakra around and around before it finally turned into a perfect sphere and stabilized.

"Good job Ero-Gaki."

"Hey don't call me that!"

"You called me Ero-sensei."

"Because it's true!"

"Yea, and you're an Ero-Gaki!"

"I am not!"

"Kid I had to drag you away from the hotsprings. _I _had to drag _you_ away."

"Okay maybe I am a perv." Naruto said with a sweatdrop.

"Anyways, drive the attack into that tree over there." Jiraiya said as he nodded towards a tree.

Naruto nodded and blurred away, driving his palm into the nearest tree. The sphere of chakra in his hand drilled itself about halfway into the tree in a perfect circle before the tree exploded into splinters.

"Sweet!" Naruto yelled

"Now, onto the next thing. Do you you have a summoning contract already?"

"Nope."

"Well how would you like to sign the toad contract?"

"It would be an honor."

"Okay then" Jiraiya said as he bit his thumb and did some handseals then slammed his hand down. "Sign here in your blood, and then put your handprints."

Naruto did as told and cut his hand before signing his name to the contract. It glowed green for just a moment and then the glow died away before the scroll rolled back up and disappeared.

"Now then did you copy the handseals?" Jiraiya asked, and Naruto nodded his head.

"Okay just prick your thumb and do the seals, then slam your hand to the ground."

Naruto bit his thumb and did the required seals before slamming his hand down with a cloud of smoke. Once the smoke cleared, a small red toad was there.

**"Howdy Jiraiya, what's up?"**

"Hey Gamakichi, this is Naruto, the new summoner." Replied Jiraiya.

"**A new guy ayy?" **Gamakichi said as he hopped around Naruto to get a better look.

"**I think I like him!" **Gamakichi said after a moment as he leapt onto Naruto's head. **"Has he met Dad yet?"**

"Nope, you're his first summon."

"**Well I'm honored. What's your name by the way?"**

"Naruto Namikaze."

"**I'm Gamakichi, nice to meet you." **Gamakichi said as he stuck his tongue out next to Naruto's hand.

Naruto reluctantly grabbed his tongue and shook it. "Nice to meet you too."

"Alright I hate to interrupt such an emotional scene, but you still need to summon Bunta and meet him."

"Who's Bunta?"

"**Gamabunta, he is the toad boss, and my dad."**

"Okay, how do I decide which toad I summon?" Naruto asked.

"You'll learn over time, each toad requires a different amount of chakra. For Bunta, use as much as you can spare." Jiraiya answered, not knowing he just made a big mistake.

Naruto bit his thumb and did the handseals before slamming his hand down on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He said before he felt himself rocketing into the sky atop the massive red toad who with a tanto on his back and a pipe hanging from his mouth.

"Holy shit Gaki!" Jiraiya exclaimed as he looked off of Gamabunta's head. Next to Bunta, there was another 2 equally toads, a large blue-green toad with a white belly and twin katanas on its back; and a large magenta toad with a shield on his back and a sasumata in his hands.

"**Why did you summon us Jiraiya?!" **Gamabunta bellowed out

"Actually Bunta, it wasn't me." Jiraiya answered, still in awe at the fact that Naruto summoned the 3 biggest battle-toads.

"**Don't bullshit me Jiraiya! Who else could have done it?"**

"It was me, Gamabunta-sama!" Naruto said, earning a laugh from the massive toad.

"**Good joke Jiraiya, this is one of the best in ages! But why did you bring Gamaken and Gamahiro as well?"**

"**It really was Naruto Dad. He is the new summoner." **Gamakichi said

"**Really now. Well then why should we allow you to summon us?" **Bunta asked.

"Bunta, this is Minato's son. He is a fine shinobi already at the age of 10." Jiraiya said.

"I would appreciate your permission to be your summoner, Bunta-sama." Naruto added in.

"**Hmm… I like you kid. I tell you what, hold on to me for just 30 minutes and I will allow it."**

At this point, Jiraiya grabbed Gamakichi and leapt over to Gamaken's head quickly.

"What do you-AHHH!" Naruto started to say before Bunta leapt away in a blur."

"**Do you think he'll make it? I sure wouldn't, because I'm too clumbsy." **Gamaken said as Bunta shot off.

"Yea he's strong, he'll be fine." Jiraiya replied.

After 30 minutes of the roughest ride he ever experienced, Bunta and Naruto touched back down in the field beside the others, where Naruto promptly jumped off of Bunta and puked.

"**Well done Gaki, you may summon us any time you need. Just be prepared to have drinks with us if we are not really needed."**

"Thank you, Bunta-sama. I'll keep that in mind." Naruto said as the 3 large toads dispelled themselves.

"Well that went quicker than I expected. Hmm… What is your elemental affinity?"

"Futon, Katon, and Raiton." Naruto replied making Jiraiya facefault.

"Damn 3 affinities. Impressive, though I don't have much along those lines to teach you that I bet you don't already know. I know! I'll teach you my Toton Jutsu**(Transparent Escape Technique)**, since you're an aspiring pervert!"

"I'm not a pervert!" Pouted Naruto.

"You might as well admit it Ero-Gaki." Said Jiraiya with a chuckle, before he began to teach Naruto the Toton Jutsu.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hiruzen sat at his desk reading his favorite orange book, concealed by a mission report from earlier in the day. All of a sudden, the door to his office swung open. Hiruzen looked up from his book ready to cuss at whoever entered without knocking, but found no one there.

"Damn cheap faulty hinges interrupting my reading." Muttered Hiruzen as he got up to close the door.

As soon as he reached the door and shut it, a voice echoed out across the room "Please give it to me Arashi! I long for you to fill me!" The voice then changed and spoke again. "Of course Akina, I will gladly fill your voids! Say my name!"

"Who's there?!" Hiruzen shouted as he dropped to his battle stance.

"Oh Arashi it feels so good! Harder! Harder! Bathe me in your fluids!" Said the first voice again.

"Ugh Akina yes! I'm almost there!" Said the second.

"Come out now!" Hiruzen shouted again.

"'Oh God yes! Arashi!' Screamed Akina in ecstasy as the man filled her with his fluids. " Said the first voice.

"'Oh Akina that was wonderful.' Said Arashi as he let he juices flow down her thighs."

"You better reveal yourself!" Shouted Hiruzen once again.

"Are you sure you want us to do that?" Whispered a new voice right beside his ear. He jumped back immediately as Jiraiya and Naruto both shimmered into existence, rolling around in the floor laughing.

"Goddammit Jiraiya you turned Naruto-kun into a pervert!" Hiruzen cursed with a large blush on his face.

"He was just reading from your book sensei." Said Jiraiya as he reigned in his laughter.

"Yes but YOU wrote it. And he spent all day with you!" Replied Hiruzen.

Naruto finally stopped his laughing and fired up another cigarette and said "You know it was funny Jiji."

"No it almost caused me a damn heart attack!" Hiruzen yelled out.

"Sorry, it's just too easy to beat a perv." Naruto said with a smile as he did a couple of handseals and disappeared again before the door to his house appeared, opened, closed, and disappeared again. A few minutes later, even though they were in a pocket dimension, Hiruzen and Jiraiya heard Hinata cursing Naruto. A few minutes after that, the doorway opened back up and Naruto came limping out with a black eye and a busted lip, carrying a pillow and blanket in one arm, the other hanging limp at his side.

"Hey Jiji, can I sleep on the couch tonight?" Naruto mumbled out.

Hiruzen and Jiraiya both hit the floor laughing at his misfortune for a minute before Hiruzen got it under control. "Sure Naruto-kun. I just hope you learned your lesson about using Jiraiya-kun's stupid jutsu."

"Of course I didn't Jiji who do you think I am!" Naruto said with as much of a smile as his broken face could form.

"You are your father's child Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said as she shook his head and Jiraiya smirked.

XXXXXXXXXXX

With Naruto a few minutes earlier

Naruto silently made his way through the house, until he found Hinata sitting in the living room looking over a scroll on suiton techniques. He carefully stalked over to behind the couch and quickly stuck his hands in front of her face.

"EEP!" Hinata screamed out before she turned and struck one of Naruto's arms with a jyuken palm.

"OWW Hinata-chan it's me!" Naruto screamed as the Toton faded away.

"Naruto-kun you scared me!" Yelled Hinata before she proceeded to beat the shit out of him.

"Hinata-chan I'm sorry!" The crumpled body in the floor that used to be Naruto whimpered out.

"Hmph."

"Please-"

"Leave!"

"But-"

"NOW!" Hinata shouted as Naruto drug himself away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning

Naruto awoke on the couch in Hiruzen's office with an aching back, but all the other wounds had already healed.

"I can't believe she kicked me out of my own house." Naruto pouted to himself as he popped his back.

"You two act like a married couple already Naruto-kun." Hiruzen chuckled.

Naruto just growled before disappearing into his home to shower and get ready for the day.

When Naruto stepped in he could smell breakfast cooking, so he made his way to the kitchen.

"Hey Hinata-chan." Naruto said timidly, half hidden behind the doorframe so he could avoid flying utensils.

"Good morning Naruto-kun." Hinata replied in a sing-song voice, making Naruto worry even more.

"M-Morning." He replied as he slowly walked to the table and sat down.

"Did you sleep okay?" Hinata asked in the same sickly sweet voice.

"Not really… A-Are you still mad about last night?"

"No of course not! I could never stay mad at you!" Hinata said, but the evil glint in her eye said different.

"G-Good then." Naruto said as Hinata brought their breakfast to the table.

They finished eating while making small-talk. Once they were done, Naruto said "Wow Hinata-chan, that was delicious! What was in em?"

The evil glint in Hinata's eyes then grew to a sadistic expression over her whole face.

"Oh nothing really, just bacon and pancakes with chocolate chips and laxative."

"W-What d-did you say?" Naruto said as his stomach churned and his face turned green.

"I think you heard me." Hinata replied in the same tone she had used all morning.

"WHY?!" Naruto screamed as he shunshinned to the toilet, where he would remain for quite a while.

"I win!" Yelled Hinata with a big smile as she left the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several miserable hours later

Naruto finally stumbled away from the toilet with a new-found respect for the saying 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. He took a quick shower and left his house, headed for Ichiraku's to replenish the nutrients that were oh-so-forcefully expelled from his body throughout the course of the day. He decided upon walking instead of shunshinning due to the fact that he still felt a bit queasy.

A few minutes into his walk, Naruto blindly turned a corner and bumped into someone, knocking several grocery bags out of her hands. Naruto quickly apologized and went to help her pick her things up when he noticed who it was, or rather she noticed who he was.

"Naruto-kun! Hi how are you? Sorry about bumping into you I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Ino said with an embarrassed smile. _"Damn I can't believe I just ran into him he must hate me now!"_

"No worries Ino, I wasn't paying attention either, and I'm sorry for making you drop your things." Naruto replied.

Ino's mind quickly went into overdrive, forming a devious plan once she realized that he wasn't mad at her.

"Well Naruto-kunnn" She said with a seductive smile, dragging out the 'kun' for longer than normal. "If you really are sorry, you could take me for lunch after I drop these groceries off at home."

Naruto; ever noble, and a bit unknowing, decided that since he was going to eat anyways it wouldn't be a problem if she came along.

"Sure Ino, that would be fine by me." Naruto said, unknowingly accepting her offer of a date.

"Cool! Help me carry these home and then we can go!" Ino half yelled, shoving several bags into Naruto's arms before grabbing his arm and running off with a large smile.

Several minutes later found the pair at the Yamanaka flower shop standing in front of a large, blonde haired man with a spiky flat-top and a pony tail flowing down his back.

"Hey Daddy I'm back!" Ino yelled as she drug Naruto to the counter where her father stood.

"Hey sweetie, who's your boyfriend?" Inoichi asked, stressing the 'boyfriend' before letting out a chuckle.

"This is Naruto, he's not my boyfriend." _"Yet." _Ino replied with a devious smile.

"Well nice to meet you Naruto-san."

"Likewise Inoichi-sama." Naruto replied as Ino ran off to get ready for her 'date'.

"_Hmm that voice is familiar… he's far too young to be him though." _Inoichi thought as reached out a hand to confirm his suspicions. Naruto, seeing the question in Inoichi's eyes, and knowing that he was once in ANBU himself, reached out and accepted Inoichi's handshake. Both parties shook hands like any normal greeting, or so it appeared; once the 2 grasped each other's hands, they nondescriptly rubbed their pinky finger along the bottom of the other's hand.

"_I'll be damned, it is him."_ "Thank you." Inoichi said simply, but he knew Naruto would get the meaning.

Naruto was about to reply when he noticed Ino walk around the corner and shoot the pair a questioning look.

"Oh Ino, I was just thanking Naruto here for helping you bring home the groceries." Inoichi said, quickly trying to deter his daughter from prying.

"That didn't sound like a 'thank you for helping with chores thank you." Ino replied.

"And why do you say that?" Inoichi asked, now getting nervous."

"Because it sounded like a 'thanks for saving my daughter thank you."

"Well" Inoichi started but was cut off by Naruto. "She knows already. We were 'forced' to reveal ourselves on the mission."

"I see… Ino I trust that you will tell no one of this right?"

"Yes Daddy, Naruto-kun already swore me to secrecy."

"_Naruto-_kun _ayy? Seems my little girl has the hots for him. At least she picked a good one." _Inoichi thought with a smirk, but before he could tease them anymore, Ino interrupted.

"Bye Daddy, Naruto-kun is taking me on a date!" She shouted as she grabbed his hand and drug him out the door.

"Date?" Naruto said sheepishly.

"Yea silly, what'd you think this was?"

"Uhhh… I don't know." Naruto said, causing Ino to sweatdrop.

Soon enough, the 'couple' were at a barbeque joint near Ino's house. As they made to go inside, one of the waiters stopped them.

"We don't serve your kind here. Would you like me to get him away from you Miss?" the man sneered.

"_What the hell is that about?" _Ino wondered as the man made to grab Naruto. "Excuse me! What is your problem?!"

"We don't allow filth such as this in our establishment."

"What has he ever-"

"Don't worry about it Ino, let's just go somewhere else." Naruto cut in.

"No! That's not right that he would turn you away for nothing!"

"It's fi-"

"It is not for nothing! This child is a de-" at this point, Ino suddenly disappeared to find herself in Naruto's arms, several blocks away from the restaurant. She blushed lightly at being held by him again before he sat her down.

"Thanks for sticking up for me Ino-chan, but like I said, it's fine. We can go somewhere else. I have a feeling that his restaurant will be out of business soon anyways." Naruto said, not noticing the 'chan' he placed at the end of Ino's name.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at the barbecue place

"It is not for nothing! This child is a de-" the waiter said before there was a poof of smoke. Once the smoke cleared, Ino was gone and the man's head was on the ground, with Kitsune standing above the body.

"Mentioning the Kyuubi is punishable by death, and your sentence was carried out as such." Kitsune said to the dead man before turning to the ANBU that now stood behind him. "Please take him to the morgue, he violated 'The Ninth Law'." He said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto frowned at receiving the memories of his clone. He really hated having to kill people, but laws were laws, and no one was going to tread on him anymore.

Ino, noticing his frown, spoke up. "What's wrong Naruto-kun?"

"It's nothing. Is Ichiraku's okay with you? I'd like to avoid anymore conflicts if possible."

"Umm sure, I like ramen." Ino said with a half-hearted smile. She couldn't help but wonder why the man treated Naruto so badly. She filed it away as a thought for another time; she wouldn't let anything ruin her date with Naruto-kun!

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Not much to say here, we get to see Naruto's perverted side a bit, and some relationship building, but nothing spectacular. Until next time; review, follow, fav, tell your friends, and tell them to tell their friends.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Welcome back everyone. Not much to say here so I hope you all enjoy.**

**If I owned Naruto, this wouldn't be a fanfic now would it?**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto once more stood in front of Tora, the ANBU commander, in the dimly lit chamber of the ANBU auditorium, this time wearing his full uniform, minus the mask.

To Tora's other side, Itachi was standing in the same garb as Naruto, but he was wearing his mask. Behind them slightly was Hiruzen, with a small smile on his face. Naruto knew why he was here, but he was still nervous about it.

"Hello everyone, I'm pleased to welcome you all here today for a 'passing of the torch' ceremony!" Tora said with more emotion than his voice usually portrayed.

"Today is a historical day for us all, as it gives birth to a new legend. As you all know, Weasel here was the youngest person to ever become a captain amongst our ranks at the age of 13." Tora said, and then paused for a moment.

"Now, after 6 years of exceptional service, I am sad to say that Weasel will be retiring. At the same time, I am happy to say that Weasel's last act will be to promote Kitsune to captain of Delta Squad!"

"Kitsune, you have proven yourself worthy time and time again. I trust that you will make a great leader of your squad, and I believe that if you stick with it, a great commander one day. It is my honor to name you my successor. From one legend to the next, I now dub you Kitsune-taichou." Itachi said as Naruto knelt down before Itachi as Itachi removed his sword and touched Naruto's shoulder with it. **(As is the knighting ritual used by the English.)**

After Naruto had been sworn in, he stood back up as Itachi removed his mask and pitched it in the air lightly.

Without any handseals, Itachi spewed out a small fireball that enveloped his old mask and kept it floating, before willing it over to Naruto's direction. Naruto reached a hand under the mask and kept it floating, still on fire, as Itachi spoke again.

"This ritual is to signify the 'passing of the torch' from one captain to the next. I present to you the youngest man to ever make ANBU captain; captain of Delta Squad; Namikaze Naruto."

At this point Naruto donned his mask before disappearing from his spot in a swirl of fire, to reappear several feet from where he was before; now standing in front of a wall full of masks of all kinds, all with fire burning around them. Naruto gracefully sat Itachi's mask upon the wall in the next empty spot before kneeling in front of it and doing a set of hand seals. He stretched an arm out and touched it to the mask for a moment as the fire flared brightly before dying back down to a small outline of the mask.

Naruto then shunshinned back to his previous location and spoke with practiced ease. "That ritual is to signify that though Weasel may no longer be among our ranks, he will always carry the Will of Fire that we strive to represent. I officially accept my nomination as captain, and I appreciate all of your support. I hope that I may lead my squad as well as Weasel has before me." Naruto said with a deep bow towards Itachi, and then a deep bow towards the crowd. After the bow, the room erupted into cheers.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun, you've earned this." Hiruzen said as he walked over and patted Naruto on the shoulder. "Now then, why don't I take you out to eat so we can celebrate?"

"Sure thing Jiji."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Hiruzen both appeared in the street in front of Ichiraku's ramen via shunshin. Naruto quickly noticed that it looked dark inside, but paid it no mind as he walked over and slid the curtain back only to be glomped onto from 2 directions by 2 different girls. "Congratulations Naruto-kun!" Hinata and Ino said as one.

After Naruto managed to pry the girls off, he walked in and sat down at the bar next to a grinning Sasuke, lighting up a cigarette in the process.

"Congrats on making captain, but don't think for a moment that means you could beat me." Sasuke said before patting Naruto on the back. "And that shit is gonna kill you, you know."

Naruto grinned back and replied "Making captain doesn't change a thing, I can kick your ass now same as ever. And no it's fine, rather soothing. You should try it sometime."

"Shiiit I doubt it." Sasuke said with a chuckle before a chopstick tapping on glass could be heard. Everyone turned to the source to see Hiruzen standing in the middle of the room.

"Thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate Naruto-kun's promotion. Now, a toast to the new captain!"

Tseuchi quickly filled everyone's glassed with sake, minus Hinata, Ino, and Ayame who got tea, before they all raised their glasses in the air.

"To Kitsune-taichou!" Everyone chorused before downing their drinks.

"Congratulations Ero-Gaki, you'll be beating them off with a- ahh who am I kidding you've already got 2, you'll be SWAMPED now!" Jiraiya said before his nose started to bleed a bit.

"They're not my girlfriends Ero-sennin!" Naruto said with a fake scowl.

"Sure, whatever Gaki." Jiraiya said with a wink before his face turned serious again. "Seriously though Kid you know your dad would be proud of you right? He never was ANBU himself but he would still be proud. Anyways, I want you to have this, it won't be in stores for at least another month." He finished and handed Naruto a present with his trademark lecherous grin on, as Naruto portrayed his own before stuffing the little orange book into a pocket in his pants.

"Thanks Ero-sennin." Naruto smiled and hugged the man.

"You're welcome Ero-gaki. Use it well." Jiraiya replied with a wink before heading off to drink himself to oblivion.

After that the party went on for a while longer, with Jiraiya getting hammered and stumbling off to the red light district; Sasuke learning why 11 year olds don't drink and getting carried home by Itachi; And Hiruzen leaving after warning Naruto that he needed to meet him at 8 in the morning; and finally Naruto and Hinata walked Ino home before going home to bed themselves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning

"Good morning Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said as Naruto appeared in his office in a vortex of flames.

"Morning Jiji-sama, what did you need me for?"

"First off, I'd like for you to meet the new member of your squad." Hiruzen said, and like magic, a young man in a hyo **(leopard) **mask who appeared to be about 19 stepped out of the shadow.

"Hello Kitsune-taichou, I am Mumei Shiryo." **(A/N: It means nameless fodder. Take that as you will, wink wink.)**

"Nice to meet you Mumei, it is an honor to have you on my squad." Naruto said as the 2 shook hands.

"Alright Hyo, you may be dismissed." Hiruzen said as Mumei disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

After Mumei was gone, Hiruzen did a few hand seals and the room glowed purple for a minute before the glow died out.

"Now then, I have your first mission as commander. It will be a hands mission, and if you are discovered, you will be labeled as traitors and executed as such, do you accept?" Hiruzen said with a stern voice.

"I do." Naruto said, now in mission mode.

Hiruzen then went through some more hand seals and slammed his hand on his desk before Itachi appeared beside him in normal Konoha jonin gear.

"Hokage-sama." Itachi said with a small bow.

"Itachi-kun, Naruto-kun has accepted the mission. Care to explain?"

"Of course. The mission, simply put, will be to assassinate Danzo Shimura. We have substantial evidence that Danzo is a traitor to this village and has been working alongside Orochimaru. After the council meeting tonight, your team will follow him home, kill him, and leave no evidence behind. Do you understand?"

"Hai." Naruto replied with no emotion. Inside though, he was worried. This mission was big, and he had a new man on his squad that they had no experience with, not to mention that this would be his first mission as commander.

"Alright then, the meeting is at 19:00. Dismissed." Hiruzen said as he lifted the privacy seal and Naruto disappeared in a vortex of flames.

Naruto reappeared at ANBU HQ and summoned his team to get some training in with the new guy. They spent the next 4 hours training, and Naruto wasn't particularly impressed with the man. He was good, that much was obvious since he is in ANBU, but he wasn't great. He didn't match up to the rest of his team, but then again Delta Squad is the envy of all the other squads, so that was a big shoe to fill. Naruto just hoped he would make it through tonight so he could be caught up to Delta standards.

After the training, Naruto told his team to meet him at HQ at 18:00, and they all parted ways to rest up from their training.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At 18:00 sharp, Delta squad appeared inside ANBU HQ in their various shunshins. Naruto spent the next hour briefing the team on their course of action, before they once more shunshinned away to outside of the council chamber, where they simply stayed hidden and waited for Danzo to leave. Somewhere around an hour and a half later, the meeting was dismissed and the various council members departed for home.

Naruto instantly activated his Sharingan, picking Danzo out of the crowd with no problem. "Target in sight." Naruto whispered into his radio, receiving 3 short clicks as confirmation. "Move out." Again receiving 3 clicks.

The team spent the next 30 minutes hidden on the rooftops, in the trees, and in the shadows following the crippled bastard home. Finally, he arrived; having no clue he was being followed, he simply nodded to the two Root operatives that were hidden in the shadows by his gate before they quickly opened the gate to allow him passage.

"Two by the gate, one on the roof, one by the front door, one by the back. I'll get the gate, Neko take the roof, Taka front, Hyo back; no sounds." Naruto whispered barely loud enough to hear through their radios, but received 3 confirmations. "Move."

As soon as Naruto was through speaking, he appeared behind the first gate guard and removed his head with a quick slash of his tanto. He caught the head and body, lowered them quietly to the ground, and repeated the process again for the other.

At the same time, Yugao, Sasuke, and Mumei all accomplished their own task before they all disappeared back to the shadows to be sure Danzo didn't notice their arrival.

After a brief moment, Naruto was sure they were good and leapt away quickly, landing beside the back door of the large home. With a quick scan of the house with his Sharingan he confirmed that Danzo was in the shower, and there were no seals anywhere to be concerned with.

"_A bit too confident in his fake ANBU isn't he?" _Naruto thought as he melted the door lock with a Katon jutsu. The 4 man team quickly went in before Naruto performed a soundproof barrier around the entire house, and hid outside of Danzo's bedroom, waiting for him to come out.

Several minutes later the man walked out of his bathroom and right past Naruto, who was waiting in the shadows. Without hesitating, Naruto pulled a kunai and plunged it deep into the base of Danzo's skull before the man fell to the ground… and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"SHIT!" Naruto yelled out as he narrowly avoided a blade of wind that smashed through the wall he was standing by. Danzo then stepped out through the hole in the wall and chuckled.

"So the weak old bastard is so scared of me that he sent a squad of ANBU to take me out. Tsk. I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night; you won't take me down so easily." Danzo said calmly before running through a set of 1 handed seals before calling out "Futon: Shinkugyoku." **(Vacuum Spheres) **and inhaling a deep breath and releasing it, sending several streams of razor sharp wind towards Naruto.

Naruto quickly did his own hand seals and called out "Futon: Daitoppa!" as he blew out a large wall of wind that intercepted Danzo's attack, causing the hallway they stood in to explode outwards.

Danzo once more began a set of hand seals, but never got to finish as he dodged a flame bullet from Sasuke. While Danzo was still in the air from the dodge, he was shocked as he caught a glimpse of a sword swinging towards him. Unable to dodge, the sword sliced into the side of his chest and through his heart, only stopping when it hit his spine. Yugao quickly kicked him off of her blade and backed away, preparing to burn the body, when his body shimmered a bit, and then disappeared. She was quite shocked, but played it off as a seal to prevent interrogation if captured; until Danzo appeared in front of her once again, with the bandages around his face and right arm missing, revealing a Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye, and 2 fully matured Sharingan, and what appeared to be 8 closed eye-sockets on the arm. Before she could even react, he kicked her through the wall and leapt back towards Naruto and Sasuke.

Right as Danzo started moving towards them, Mumei jumped in front of him and launched him through the wall and into what appeared to be a dojo. Mumei quickly leapt through the hole and engaged Danzo in a taijutsu bout for a moment before he was overwhelmed and knocked back out of the way. Just as Mumei got knocked away from Danzo, he heard a whistling noise before Sasuke called out "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" and Naruto called out "Futon Katon: Kajiarashi Rasengan!" **(Firestorm Rasengan)** Before Danzo could react, Naruto appeared in front of him with a Futon Rasengan in hand. As Naruto began to thrust the attack home, the small fireballs that Sasuke fired merged to the Rasengan and began to swirl around it while also increasing it's size and intensity.

Danzo didn't have a chance to dodge and Naruto's attack found home, driving deep into Danzo's chest before exploding out in a ball of fire, blowing the side of Danzo's chest out. Naruto leapt back, still on guard after seeing Danzo survive Yugao's attack. Sure enough, Danzo's body soon shimmered and disappeared, before reappearing in front of Naruto with 1 open Sharingan and 9 closed sockets on his arm. He quickly went through some hand seals and said "Futon: Daitoppa!" as he released a gale-force wind at Naruto, who was unable to dodge in time, and was rocketed back out into the hallway.

Sasuke quickly leapt in while Danzo was distracted and launched a roundhouse kick at his head, but Danzo spun and blocked the kick before launching his own into Sasuke's rib cage, shooting him back towards the hall as well. Out of the blue, Yugao appeared and caught Sasuke before sitting him down and the 2 flew back at Danzo. Sasuke went in first, going through hand seals before calling out "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" and blowing out a large stream of fire towards Danzo, who countered with a Daitoppa that stalled the attack before it could reach him. It was then that Danzo felt a presence behind him and quickly pulled a kunai out and spun around just in time to block a downward slash from Yugao's katana, though he wasn't fast enough to avoid the 2 clones that appeared at both of his sides with upward slashes. Both clones successfully sliced up through his ribs and into his spine. The clones then dispelled before Danzo fell to the ground dead. Again.

Not one to be fooled twice, Yugao put a lot of distance between Danzo and herself as his body began to shimmer once again. Just like the 3 times before, Danzo disappeared, only to reappear right where he was killed most recently now with 10 closed eye sockets on his arm, before bolting for Yugao once again. Yugao threw her arm up to counter the kick that Danzo launched, but never made it as Naruto substituted with her, ducked under his kick, and drove yet another Futon Rasengan in, and through, his chest where his heart would be. Naruto pulled his bloodied arm out, and to his surprise, Danzo began to laugh.

"Well well, you managed to kill me. I can't say that I'm shocked, but at least I'll live in peace knowing I take you to hell with me! Ura Shisho Fuin!" **(Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique) **Danzo shouted at he tore his shirt off, revealing 4 square symbols across his chest, before the seals projected around Naruto and himself. Naruto tried to jump back out of the way, but found that he couldn't move anything.

"SHIT! You bastard!" Naruto yelled out as the 4 seals started to turn into a large black sphere. _"Well fuck. I can't believe this is how it ends. I'm only 11 years old and I die on the first mission I get to lead. Some captain I am."_ Naruto thought as he accepted his inevitable death, only to be broke out of his musings by a distant sounding voice.

"Taichou!" Mumei shouted at he saw the sphere began to envelop the two. Quickly acting, he used a substitution and replaced himself with Naruto just as the seal completely formed and trapped him with Danzo.

Naruto was completely shocked; one second he was watching his short life replay in his mind, the next he heard a distant voice and a weird pull on his body before he was outside the seal watching Mumei die in his stead.

"NOOO! Goddammit Hyo why would you do that?!" He shouted in rage as he transformed into his one tailed chakra shroud and formed a Futon: Rasengan in his right hand. He was gone in the blink of an eye, and reappeared beside the large, now solid black, sphere, driving his palm forward. Just as he was about to hit it, the seal glowed with a golden hue, turned back to black, and disappeared. Naruto, due to his momentum, flew through the spot that used to be the sphere and crashed into the wall. Once his demon-fueled Futon Rasengan connected to the wall, it exploded outward in a large cyclone, blowing through the next two rooms and clear to the outside of the house.

Naruto promply fell to his knees and began to curse and slam his fist into the floor until he had broke through the flooring and was beating the foundation beneath. Sasuke then walked over and put a hand on his shoulder trying to comfort him.

"Calm down man it's okay. That was what he wanted to do, he did it of his own free will."

"No goddammit it's all my fault! I shouldn't have got caught in the first place! What the fuck kind of leader am I to allow my men to die on my first damn mission?!" Naruto shouted, his voice crackling from the tears he was releasing.

"It's okay Taichou, come on we'll talk about this later we need to go."

Naruto then calmed himself down a bit, but the sadness was evident in his voice. "You're right I can't forget that I am expected to set an example." He then spoke up a bit. Neko, destroy the body; Taka, you and I will burn the interior of the house to remove the evidence."

Yugao nodded and went through a few hand seals before she blew out a stream of flames that enveloped Danzo's body. She continued blowing the fire for a few more seconds, until there was nothing left of Danzo.

Naruto and Sasuke in the mean time, had both went back to opposite sides of the house and began spewing out fireballs, until they met in the middle, with Yugao; while the house burned around them.

"You two go on, I'll meet you at the back door in just a second." Naruto commanded before the 2 nodded and disappeared. Naruto then quickly knelt down and said a small prayer for Mumei, before he stood back up and flashed through a few hand seals and said flatly "Katon: Karyu Endan no Jutsu." As a large dragon made of flames spewed from his mouth and ravaged through the remainder of the house before shooting out the roof, causing a large explosion a cave in of the roof.

"Oh God he's still in there!" Yugao half screamed as the house fell in on itself.

Sasuke was too shocked to even speak, after watching his best friend just kill himself.

The two were about to break down when they felt a source of heat behind them and quickly turned to see Naruto walk out of a vortex of fire.

"I decided to make sure there was no evidence left." Naruto said simply before nodding towards the main street. "There is another squad coming. We were in the area and heard a disturbance, we came to check it out and found several of Danzo's Root operatives attacking him. They managed to kill him, but we killed them back."

Sasuke and Yugao simply nodded before following Naruto out front to meet the new squad. Naruto talked to the captain of their squad and explained what happened; the man bought the story, and he and his team quickly began damage control by putting out the fires and running off the 'rubberneckers' **(I don't know if any of you have ever heard the word, but it's a term used to describe nosy people who come to emergencies just to see whats going on.) **while Naruto dismissed his team and went to report in to the Hokage.

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**Finally got to see some real action in this one! I don't really like the whole fight scene. By the way yes, I know Danzo had 10 Sharingan eyes to use Izanagi with in the manga, but this is set 5 years prior to that; therefore I reason that he hasn't activated all of the eyes yet. I also intentionally left out his summon because they were fighting indoors and there would be no room for it. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this one. Until next time; review, fav, follow, and refer a friend.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Welcome back once again. This chapter will deal with the aftermath of Naruto's mission, and some training just to occupy space and showcase a bit of everyone's talents.**

**I don't always own Naruto, but when I do; I don't. (Bud Light all the way, btw)**

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"Naruto-kun."

"Naruto-kun."

"Naruto-kun!" Said Hinata as she looked at Naruto with a worried expression on her face. He had been distant and seemed like he was depressed ever since he got back from his mission last night, though she didn't know what it was.

"Hn." Naruto said as he continued to stare at the wall.

"Naruto-kun what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not."

"Bullshit!" Hinata said as she slapped him in the face.

Naruto then opened and closed his mouth several times, making himself look like a fish.

"Now do you wanna tell me what's wrong?" Hinata asked, though it wasn't really a question.

"I…" And for the first time in over 3 years, Naruto began to cry. "I'm a failure Hinata-chan…"

Hinata then wrapped Naruto in a hug and let him cry into her shoulder, where they stayed until both passed out.

The next morning, Hinata woke up first, and blushed when she saw how close she was to Naruto; she then remembered the previous night and how upset he was.

"_What could be wrong with him? I've never seen him like this before. Maybe I should go talk to Jiji-sama?" _Hinata thought as she looked over the sleeping form of Naruto.

She then carefully moved so as to not wake him, before walking out the door and directly into the Hokage's office.

"Well Good morning Hinata, how are you today?" Hiruzen said once she walked in.

"I'm okay, but I need to talk to you about Naruto…"

"What is it?"

"He seems really depressed since he got home last night. Did something happen on his mission?"

Hiruzen seemed to cringe at the mention of Naruto's mission, before he looked over to her and said "You know I can't tell you anything about it, but yes it bad. One of Naruto-kun's men was killed and he blames himself for it. You should really try to comfort him, he was taking it hard when I saw him last night."

"I see… Thanks Jiji-sama." Hinata said as she turned and went back into their house to find Naruto now awake and laying on the couch looking straight up at the ceiling again.

"Naruto-kun… I'm sorry for getting angry last night, I didn't know… I went and talked to Jiji and he told me what happened."

Naruto simply turned his gaze at Hinata and locked eyes with her, and she noticed that the bright blue orbs that she loved so much were now glazed over and dull, showing all of his hurt.

"Naruto-kun it's okay, it's not your fault." She said softly as she moved over and sat down on the edge of the couch and began stroking his hair. He tensed at first but slowly relaxed as she continued.

"It is my fault… he's dead and I caused it…"

"Shhh. No Naruto-kun, it's not your fault; all shinobi, especially ANBU, know when they join the ranks that they could die at any time."

"It doesn't matter… it should've been me…" Naruto whispered before he began to cry again. After a while, he passed out once more, and Hinata walked out to talk to the Hokage again.

"Jiji-sama, Naruto-kun isn't getting any better, is there anything you can do to help?"

"Unfortunately no, he looks at me like his grandfather but I'm not the right person to help him. I'll have Sasuke-kun come talk to him; maybe that will help."

"Okay thanks." Hinata said as she went inside once again. Seeing that Naruto was still asleep, she went to take a shower. Several minutes later, she came back out, luckily fully dressed, to find Sasuke and Itachi walking in the door.

"Hi Sasuke-kun, Itachi-san."

"Hey Hinata, what's going on with Naruto?"

"He blames himself for losing one of his men last night. I tried to talk to him but I don't know what happened, so I think you would be better off."

"I see. Are you going somewhere? Because what we are about to talk about is an SS-Rank secret. Don't think I'm trying to run you out of your own house, I'll just have to take him to another room if you weren't leaving."

"Don't worry about it Sasuke-kun, I was about to go into town for a while."

"Okay then, see ya later."

After Hinata left, Itachi did a few hand seals and the room glowed purple briefly, before fading to normal.

"Hey Naruto." Sasuke said in his best impression of a soft voice as he shook the blonde awake.

"Hnn Sasuke, Itachi? Are you here to take back your spot as captain? I sure don't deserve it…" Naruto said, the depression evident in his voice.

"No Naruto-kun. We came to help you through this, as your friends." Itachi said in his soft voice, which was also his angry, happy, sad, bored, and exited voices.

"I don't deserve help. I was careless and it caused Mumei to get killed."

"Don't blame yourself so much Naruto-kun. As shinobi, especially those of us in ANBU, we know that there is a chance we could die at any time. Mumei willingly did what he did to save you, because he respected you. You insult his memory by acting like this. During my span as captain I lost many men, and I did many things I'm not proud of-" Itachi almost shuddered at the thought, specifically thinking of when he wiped out half of his family. "but I never let it get to me. You have to take this in stride and move on. Allow it to make you stronger and honor the sacrifice he made for you."

"Yea Naruto, it's part of the job. We knew before-hand last night that it was an S-Rank mission and that we might not make it out." Sasuke added in.

"It was my first time as a captain… and then I made a foolish mistake… it's MY fault that he's dead! He should've just let me die Goddammit!" Naruto started in the same sad tone, but by the end he had more anger in his voice and his eyes had turned red with black slits.

"Naruto calm down, don't blame yourself." Sasuke said as they began to back away from the couch.

"IT'S! ALL! MY! FAULT!" Naruto screamed as he stood up and kicked his couch back and through the next 2 walls, into his bedroom.

"I killed him!" a red chakra tail shot out behind him as his features became more feral.

"Goddammit it should've been me!" the chakra became more intense and grew another tail as he dropped to all fours. Sasuke and Itachi were seriously worried now and had backed against the wall to avoid the tails that were lashing out and destroying the house.

"Why didn't he just let me die?!" 2 more tails shot out as his eyes turned completely white and his skin began to peel off. The intensity of the chakra coming off of him had now pretty much shredded the room they were in, and the bedroom that was now connected due to his outburst.

"Why-" Naruto started again but stopped as Hiruzen burst through the door and planted a paper tag on his forehead faster than even the Sharingan could track.

_"So fast… that is why they call him the God of Shinobi…" _Sasuke thought as he saw the door fly open and Naruto collapse into Hiruzen's arms; nothing in between, even with his Sharingan active.

"What happened?" Hiruzen questioned Itachi, who turned his Mangekyo on and looked Hiruzen in the eye, replaying the scene through a Sharingan genjutsu.

"I see." Hiruzen then looked around at the now destroyed house. "Damn, Hinata won't be happy about this. Anyways, I've suppressed the demonic chakra, you two should stick around until he wakes up and try to talk to him again. If he loses control, just put one of these on his body somewhere." Hiruzen said before he walked out the door.

"I can't believe it… Naruto just destroyed his entire home with chakra alone, and Hokage-sama moved so fast I couldn't even follow it with my Sharingan. I've got a lot of catching up to do." Sasuke said, still in awe.

"Don't worry little brother" Itachi said as he poked him in the forehead "you're still young, there is plenty of time to become stronger. For now though we need to concentrate on helping Naruto-kun."

"Yea…" _"I really hope we can get through, I hate seeing him so messed up."_

The 2 then retrieved the couch from Naruto's bedroom and sat there in silence for another hour before Naruto woke back up.

"W-What happened?" Naruto mumbled out.

"You used the Kyubi's chakra and it lashed out, causing this."

"Oh." Naruto then re-entered his depression mode.

"Naruto you need to stop this. It's not you. You're supposed to be the happy one. Don't blame yourself for what happens; it's part of life." Sasuke said.

"No, I only blame myself because it is my fault. If I would have-" Sasuke interrupted him with a swift right hook, knocking him over the arm of the couch and into the floor.

"Goddammit Naruto stop blaming yourself! Mumei wanted to die for you and now you're pissing on his sacrifice. Live and get stronger to be sure it doesn't happen again. Honor what he did for you!" Sasuke yelled out, his temper now shot to hell. "Life is a bitch, we have to accept it and move on! I know you're stronger than this, Taichou."

This outbreak finally brought Naruto around, if only just a little.

"I guess you're right… I'm not happy about it but I can't just sit around and do nothing forever." Naruto said in a flat tone.

"Exactly. Like I said, you need to move on. Mumei didn't sacrifice his life for you so you could go emo on us. How about we go to Ichiraku's that'll make you feel better."

"Ummm… sure, just let me get cleaned up real quick." Replied Naruto as he went to take a shower.

Several minutes later, Naruto reemerged from the guest shower (his was destroyed during the rampage) fully dressed in his polo shirt and khaki shorts before they left the house in search of food.

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1 week later

Hiruzen had given Delta squad the week off, to allow Naruto some time to settle down. During the week, Naruto's house had been repaired, and Naruto spent most of his time there with Hinata. By the 5th day, he felt almost normal again, and actually began to train once more. By the end of the week he was back to normal once more, though he still thought of the incident occasionally, and figured he always would.

Currently, we find the 3 man Delta squad at ANBU HQ undergoing a training exercise; a simple game of capture the flag.

"Ready?" Naruto asked as he set a timer for 15 minutes and strapped an orange flag **(A/N this is like a cross of capture the flag and flag football)** to his waist.

"The one with the least amount of point at the end of 3 hours buys lunch. Go!" Naruto said as both Yugao and Sasuke charged at him. Sasuke stopped halfway and began doing hand seals while Yugao continued on. Just as she was in front of him and about to slash down, she phased from existence, revealing a kunai flying towards him before Sasuke said "Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" **(Dragon Fire)**

Sasuke exhaled a stream of fire that seemed to follow behind the kunai and speed it up at the same time. Naruto had no problem dodging the flaming kunai, before doing his own seals and calling out Futon: Tajuu Renkudan!" **(Multiple Drilling Air Bullets) **as he inhaled deeply and began to blow out several volleyball sized wind bullets towards Sasuke.

Sasuke did the best he could at dodging the wind bullets, but there were too many, and finally one got a glancing blow on his rib cage. He grunted in pain as the attack sliced him several times and knocked him back off his feet.

As soon as Naruto stopped the wind bullets, Yugao sprang forth from the ground in front of him and slashed upwards with her sword, cutting Naruto across his chest, before she grabbed onto the orange flag and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying across the field. She quickly attached the flag to her waist just in time to dodge a large fireball courtesy of Sasuke.

Before she had a chance to hit the ground after dodging, Sasuke appeared beside her and launched a kick into face, shooting her into the ground with a loud crash. Sasuke then dropped down and grabbed the flag off of her and leapt off, attaching it as he went. He soon gained enough distance and dropped into a defensive stance, waiting for an attack.

He didn't have to wait long before he sensed a presence overhead, and jumped to the side just in time to avoid a downward slash from Naruto's kodachi. Naruto quickly corrected himself and turned to throw several kunai towards Sasuke, forcing him to dodge once again. Once Sasuke landed, he took the offensive, pulling his tanto rushing in towards Naruto. Sasuke slashed towards Naruto's clavicle, only to have it parried by Naruto. This continued for just a moment before Naruto won out, grabbing the flag and jabbing Sasuke in the gut with a rasengan.

Just as Naruto blew Sasuke away, he was attacked on 3 sides by Yugao's Mikazuki no Mai. Naruto dodged the attacks with only a couple of small cuts. Afterwards, Naruto fought a losing kenjutsu battle against Yugao; just as she was about to gain the upper hand, the buzzer went off, Signifying the end of round 1.

"Woo that was a close one." Naruto sighed out. "But point for me!"

"Dammit another minute and I would've had you!" Yugao cursed.

"Coulda woulda shoulda Neko-chan." Naruto teased, which probably wasn't a good idea, considering he lost the next round. And the next. Truly, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

After the designated 3 hours, Naruto had managed to win 3 of the matches, Yugao won 2, and Sasuke won 1.

"Lunch is on Sasuke today!" Naruto shouted as his stomach audibly growled, causing Sasuke to feel a phantom pain in his wallet.

It was a well founded intuition; because Naruto won, he picked the place, and of course it was Ichiraku's. 30 or so bowls later, Naruto was kicked back with a euphoric grin on his face while Sasuke was emptying his wallet with anime tears streaming down his face. _"Why me?!" _Sasuke mentally cried as his wallet 'coughed' out a cloud of dust.

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**I hope you all enjoyed this one. I think after this, there will be another timeskip to the point of the genin graduation exams, because I don't feel like writing another years worth of training as fillers until I get to the next arc, which will be the Wave Arc. I feel compelled to do a wave arc in some way, shape, form, or fashion, because it is a pretty universal trait in just about every fanfic I've ever read. It's also pretty fun to write in my opinion. But anyways I've rambled on enough; review, fav, follow, and refer your friends.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Welcome back for the next chapter, hope you all enjoy.**

**I don't own Naruto. My only possessions are a few guns, the computer I write this on, and a half empty pack of smokes. If I owned Naruto, then I would have several guns, my computer, and a fucking carton of smokes.**

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Almost a year has passed after Naruto's promotion to ANBU captain, with Delta squad running as a 3 man squad, since they hadn't found a suitable replacement as of yet. Even a man down, they had kept up the 'gold standard' of never having failed an assignment. (Even if Naruto still considered the loss of Mumei a failure.)

The time had passed relatively trouble-free, if you consider a constant flow of A to S-Rank missions normal. Naruto, in his short tenure as captain, had gained quite a reputation for himself at only 12 years old; he was almost at Sannin level, and never seemed to stop growing stronger.

Sasuke had also made a name for himself; though he wasn't a captain, people still respected his skills, putting him at elite-jonin level.

Yugao, while always respected as a kenjutsu master, had spent the last year diversifying her fighting style, making her even more feared.

Long story short: When something needed done, Delta was the team for the job.

Hinata continued training with Kurenai and Anko on a near-daily basis, now coming in at high-chunin level.

Itachi was enjoying his retired life as an elite-jonin, and would even be picking up a genin team tomorrow; which brings us to where we are now.

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"You called for us Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked as he stood beside Sasuke in front of Hiruzen's desk.

"Yes Naruto-kun, I have a long term mission for you two."

"What is it?"

"We have confirmed that in the chunin exam finals, that Orochimaru intends to attack our village. You two will pose as genin on a team alongside Hinata so you will be stationed inside the chunin exams, should he try anything."

"I see. So we will be genin for the next 7 months?"

"That is correct. Do you accept?"

"Of course, anything for the good of the village."

"Thank you Naruto-kun; be at the academy tomorrow at 8 AM for the genin exams."

"Yes sir." Naruto said as he and Sasuke left the room via shunshin."

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"Well I never expected that." Naruto said as the pair walked down the road.

"Neither did I. Damn were gonna have to do D-Ranks for the next 7 months." Sasuke pouted.

"Shit."

"No kiddin."

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The next morning

"Well hello Naruto, Sasuke, it's been a while since I've seen you two." Iruka said as the two 'students' made their way into the crowded classroom.

"Yea, we've been home-schooling." Naruto answered as they made their way to 2 empty seats in the front of the room to wait for the exams.

"Alright everyone, it is time for the start of the written exam." Iruka said as he began to pass out papers. "Please turn them in on my desk and wait out on the training field when you are done, you have 1 hour to complete the test."

He handed out the last one and turned around just in time to see Naruto stand up and walk towards his desk.

"Naruto did you have a question?"

"Nope, I'm turning my test in." Naruto replied as he laid the test down and left the room. Iruka figured he had just given up and left, so he picked the paper up and looked it over.

"_Holy shit… they're all right. How did he-"_ Iruka thought, but was interrupted as Sasuke sat his test down and left the room as well. Iruka quickly picked his test up as well to check it.

"_Damn, he got them all too, though it's different enough that I know they didn't cheat… What kind of homeschooling did these kids have?"_

Out on the training field, Naruto and Sasuke waited for 20 more minutes for the next person to finish; which happened to be Hinata.

"Hey Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out to her with a wave before she turned and walked towards them. "So how did you do?"

"I believe I did good Naruto-kun? How about you two?"

"100." They both stated simultaneously.

"And how are you so sure of that?"

Naruto pointed to himself and said "Most respected ANBU captain in the village taking a genin test?"

Sasuke followed suit and said "Elite-Jonin here. We just have to show up to keep up the act, since no one besides you and Ino know about us."

"Yea I guess you're right.

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1 hour later

All the students had now finished the written part of the exam and were sitting in various places when Iruka walked out to announce the next part of the exam.

"Alright everyone, now will be the taijutsu portion of the exam, please gather around." Iruka said as the students moved in closer to the circle drawn on the ground. "Alright, the rules are pretty simple: When I call your names; step forward and bow to your opponent. You will be judged by myself and Mizuki; the first to be knocked out of the ring, or to submit will be the loser."

Iruka then proceeded to call out names as the students battled each other.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, please step in."

"Actually; it's Naruto Namikaze now." Naruto said as the 2 stepped into the ring and bowed.

"As in Yondaime Namikaze?" Iruka asked with surprise evident in his voice.

"Yes, I'm his son."

"Oh… umm begin then." Iruka said as Naruto and Sasuke blurred from existence.

Everyone in the area was shocked at their speed as they met in the center of the ring with a loud crash.

They kept this up for several minutes before Iruka decided to call it a draw and pass them both, before calling out more names.

After all of the students had their spars, Iruka spoke again. "Alright, now will be the Ninjutsu portion. Please form 2 lines; one in front of me, one in front of Mizuki. When it's your turn, step forward and perform a bunshin, a kawarimi, and a henge, as well as another jutsu of your choosing."

Once again, the students went through the lines and did the test, until only Naruto and Sasuke remained. They stepped up in front of Iruka and Mizuki respectively before looking at each other and nodding.

Naruto formed a shadow clone, and it henged into Iruka, and kawarimi'd with him, while Naruto began doing hand seals.

Sasuke did the same thing, except with Mizuki instead of Iruka.

"Futon: Furyuendan!" Naruto said as he exhaled a large tornado that took the form of a dragon.

"Katon: Karyuendan!" Sasuke said as he blew out a large stream of fire in the form of dragon.

The two attacks launched high into the air, circling each other as they went, before they finally collided and caused a huge explosion of white-hot flames.

"_Damn. There's no way these two are genin…" _Everyone in the field thought as they stared at the fireball in awe.

"… You… pass…" Iruka said as the two boys walked off with grins on their faces.

"Well, everyone, you are dismissed for now, be back at noon for team assignments." Iruka said before the students began to disappear.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Noon, back in the classroom

"EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Iruka yelled as the class quickly became attentive.

"_Ahh, it feels good to say that to them one last time."_

"Okay everyone, first off, I'd like to congratulate all of you who remain, it has been an honor teaching you for these years, or weeks in some cases. Now without further a due; team 1 will be…"

He continued reading the list as Naruto and Sasuke both tuned out, they were already aware of who their team would be.

"Team 7 will be Naruto Uzu- Namikaze, Sasuke Uchiha, and Hinata Hyuga. Your jonin sensei will be Itachi Uchiha."

"_Dammit! I wanted to be on Naruto-kun's team!"_ Ino cursed in her mind.

"_Eep! I'm on the same team as Naruto-kun!"_ Hinata mentally cheered.

That one broke the kids out of their daze; they knew who their other teammate would be, but having Itachi for a sensei broke them from their thoughts.

"What the fuck?" Sasuke and Naruto said simultaneously.

"Team 8 will be Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sai. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

"Team 9 is still active, so Team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Your Jonin sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi."

Just as Iruka finished; Itachi, Asuma, and Kakashi all appeared in the room via shunshin and Itachi stepped forward.

"Team 7. Hokage's office. Now." Itachi said before he disappeared in a flock of ravens, with Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata following suit.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Hiruzen's office

Team 7 appeared in front of Hiruzen's desk all at roughly the same time, with Itachi speaking up for them.

"Team 7 at your service, Hokage-sama."

"Thank you Itachi-kun, at ease." Hiruzen replied as the 4 members of team 7 stood up.

"Now then, as I've already said to Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun, this is a 'special' team. Hinata, you are above the level of the other genin, which is why you were placed here. We were privy to some information concerning the chunin exams, and we needed some people on the inside." Hiruzen said, earning a nod of understanding from Hinata. "For the next 6 months or so, your team will go on a few C to B-Rank missions, but I want most of the time spent training; all four of you need to be the best you can be by then."

"Understood." Came the reply of all 4 members of team 7.

"Alright then, Sasuke, Hinata, you are dismissed.

The pair simply nodded and walked out the door.

"Alright you two should know this situation better; Jiraiya's spy network has picked up some information concerning Orochimaru, as you already knew. They say he has been making frequent visits with the Kazekage, but the stopped about 2 weeks ago; and now Suna says that the Kazekage is acting different. We believe that Oro is somehow controlling the Kazekage to gain their aid in his attack. Sources also say that he is interested in gaining the Sharingan through some new technique he developed in order to switch bodies." Hiruzen paused for a moment to let the information sink in, while Itachi and Naruto both let a miniscule amount of disgust flash across their faces.

"That being said; your team may specifically be targeted because you will have two sets of them. Itachi is far beyond Orochimaru, so he will target the 2 of you if he tries to obtain them; so keep in mind that you may have to face off with a Sannin. Aside from that, Suna also has an unstable Jinchuriki that will be entering the exams; they may use him as a weapon. I believe that is all I have for now, so you may be dismissed."

Itachi and Naruto nodded before disappearing in a flock of ravens and a vortex of flames respectively.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Later; Namikaze training field

"Dammit!" yelled Naruto as he messed up another attempt at his jutsu that he was learning.

_"I don't see what I'm doing wrong… and the only person who could help me is dead… How am I supposed to do this…" _Naruto thought as he sat down against a nearby tree.

"How do I do this?" He asked himself out loud as he thought over the contents of the scroll he had read.

_Hiraishin no Jutsu_

_Space/Time technique_

_Rank: SS_

_Namikaze clan secret technique_

_The user opens a rift in space using a special seal, such as on a thrown kunai, and teleports themselves to the seal while simultaneously rolling time back; making it seem as if the user is in several places at one time._

_To effectively use this technique, one must have a clear mind. Just relax, and roll with the flow._

_When the seal is 'activated, you will be aware of it's existence and general location within your mind. When you 'hone in' to one, you must simply 'ask', and you will 'receive'_

"What the hell does it all mean?!" Naruto yelled out loud as he threw one of the 3 pronged kunai across his yard.

"I'm not aware of anything!" He yelled once more. "Shit!"

He then just sat back against the tree and stared up at the sky for a moment, before he began to 'feel' a 'tugging' on his mind in the direction of his most recent kunai.

"_One must have a clear mind. Just relax, and roll with the flow." _Naruto thought as he mentally face-palmed.

"So I've been trying too hard… Figures." Naruto said as he stood up and relaxed, before throwing a kunai across the field. He then felt the small tugging sensation as it flew.

"_You must simply 'ask' and you will 'receive'…" _Naruto thought for a moment, before he flared his chakra and willed himself to the kunai. The response was 2 simultaneous flashes of yellow light as Naruto landed on the other side of the field, holding the kunai while he panted on the ground.

"Wow I put way too much into it." Naruto said as he stood back up.

"_Just relax, and roll with the flow." _He thought as he let another kunai fly. Again he felt the tugging sensation, but this time, he just mentally connected himself with the beacon, and once more disappeared in a flash.

"YES!" He shouted as he appeared back across the field, feeling almost no drain that time.

"Kagebunshin no Jutsu." He said as 10 clones appeared around him in a circle, about 50 feet apart, all holding 3 pronged kunai.

All of a sudden the clones all threw their kunai at each other, and in what seemed like one flash of light, all 10 clones were dispelled.

He then made 100 more with no kunai, and had these spread across the field. Naruto looked them all over before leaping high into the air and doing a few hand seals. "Tajuu Kunai Kagebunshin no Jutsu." He said as he pulled out a single 3 pronged kunai and threw it, before it multiplied into over a hundred. He was then gone in a flash, destroying the clones every way he knew how. It took only 1 minute for the clones to be gone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Uchiha district

"Try again." Itachi said as he looked at Sasuke with an expressionless face.

"Grr. Katon: Uzumaku Hono no Jutsu!" **(Swirling Flames) **Sasuke yelled out as he inhaled deeply and released it, blowing out 3 streams of fire that twisted together briefly before straightening back out.

"You need a better mastery over your element for this technique. Watch." Itachi said as he took a leaf from a tree and incinerated it in his palm. "Now you try."

Sasuke then went over to the tree and grabbed a leaf down and held it in his palm. He channeled fire chakra into the leaf for several minutes with nothing happening.

"Hotter. More concentrated." Itachi said as he watched Sasuke struggle.

"Dammit." Sasuke said as he tried harder to burn the leaf. He concentrated on the fire for several hours until the leaf began to smoke a little bit. He smiled at his progress and turned to Itachi to ask what was next, only to fall on his ass and crawl away in fear.

"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke yelled out

"Umm… I'm Itachi, foolish little brother."

"Bullshit! My Itachi-nii doesn't smile!"

_"Am I really that bad?"_ Itachi thought as he sweat-dropped.

"It really is me brother, I am pleased with your progress today."

Sasuke looked at him skeptically for a moment, before Itachi walked up and poked him in the forehead, sealing the deal.

"We're done for today, good job." Itachi said, back to his stoic persona.

1 month later

The team had spent the last month vigorously training every day, and today had decided to 'take the day off' by getting a mission.

"Hello there team 7, good morning, what can I do for you?"

"We are here requesting a mission, Hokage-sama." Itachi said.

"Very well, let's see what we have here…" Hiruzen said as he began to go over the mission list. "I have a-"

"Hokage-sama, we just received word from team 8 requesting backup immediately! They were attacked by Zabuza Momoichi and Kakashi is injured!" A chunin messenger yelled as he burst through the door.

"Well it seems I found your mission. Do you accept?"

"Of course, we will depart within the hour." Itachi said as the group shunshinned away.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

I really hate this chapter, I think it turned out bad… so I hope you all like it better than I do. Until next time, enjoy your lives. But only do so after you review, fav, and follow this story.


	15. Chapter 15

**Welcome back for another chapter. I don't have much to say besides I hope you all enjoy.**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Team 7 wasted no time getting to wave country after receiving the assignment, knowing that with a man as dangerous as The Demon of the Mist lurking around with the only jonin out of commission; time was of the essence.

"One moment please!" Came a feminine voice from behind the door of Tazuna's house.

A few seconds later, a beautiful women with purple hair who looked to be about 30 opened the door and greeted them.

"Hello there, you must be the reinforcements from Konoha. I'm Tsunami, please come on in."

"_MILF alert! Deeeeeee Dooooooooo Boooonnnnkkkk! This is not a drill! I repeat: This is not a drill!" _The warning bells in Naruto's head screeched.

"What the fuck… I've GOT to stop hanging around with Jiraiya…" Naruto muttered under his breath as he wiped away the small trickle of blood from his nose.

"Huh?" Sasuke asked him.

"Nothing." Naruto replied quickly as the group walked inside, Sasuke giving Naruto a confused look.

Once they were inside, Itachi and Naruto went upstairs to Kakashi's room to get a report from him.

"Well, on the way here, we encountered the Demon Brothers. We fought them off but they both survived. A while later I fought against Zabuza and 'won', but when I was about to go in for the kill, a hunter-nin dropped from the trees and 'finished him' with some senbon to the throat. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but then the hunter took his body and shunshinned away, instead of destroying it on spot like normal. Anyways, I soon passed out from my injuries and chakra exhaustion from using my Sharingan. So there's the short version." Kakashi said in a low voice from his bed while Naruto and Itachi simply listened and nodded occasionally.

"So what you're saying is that you think Zabuza is still alive?" Naruto questioned him

"And that he will attack as soon as he recovers." Itachi added in as Kakashi simply nodded the best he could.

"Right… I'd say he will be down for about a week, which is coincidentally the day Tazuna intends to finish the bridge."

Itachi and Naruto simply nodded before they left the room and walked to the dinner table to discuss the mission with their team and the remainder of team 8.

"Okay then, Kakashi-sempai told us that we have about a week until Zabuza will be recovered enough to fight again. That means that the next 5 days will be the most grueling training you three have ever had." Itachi said as he looked at Kakashi's genin. "For now, I need to know your abilities. You go first glasses."

"I am Shino Aburame. As you probably realize from the name, I use my family's clan techniques with the kikaichu, and I am moderately good at taijutsu." Shino said, shocking Hinata, Kiba, and Sai, though the latter didn't let it show.

"Emotional black hole." Naruto said.

"Are you sure that your dick is big enough to order me around like that? It seems like it is pretty small to me." Sai said without a hint of emotion visible on his face.

Naruto's head almost exploded from the sudden rise in his blood pressure, but he kept himself in check, knowing that he was supposed to be a genin, not an ANBU captain any more. So instead of exploding, he decided to just have some fun.

"I think my dick is plenty big enough, just ask your mom. But that's not the point, just explain yourself." Naruto said with a cocky **(Haha, pun intended.) **grin as Hinata suddenly fainted at the thought of Naruto's genitals, though everyone was too caught up in the argument to notice.

"I have no mom, dickless." Sai said, still showing no emotion. If a sexual reference about his mother couldn't get a rise out of him, what the fuck could?!

"Ahem." Itachi said as he released a bit of killing intent upon the room.

"I am Sai, I use ink based techniques." Sai answered simply.

"Okay… Dog boy, you next." Itachi said, ever stoic.

"Grr… I use my clan based techniques alongside Akamaru, we are close range specialists." Kiba growled out.

"Well then, you are all too specialized. Starting tomorrow, we will work to broaden your arsenal. I would sleep now, you'll need all the energy you can get." Itachi said as the 3 genin paled, and then quickly disappeared to their rooms.

"They won't be much help." Sasuke said as Itachi and Naruto nodded their agreement.

"Hopefully, we will have them ready to be back up at least. Itachi added in.

"Hinata-chan you're being awefully quiet, even for you." Naruto said as he turned towards Hinata to see her laying on the floor with a smile that threatened to tear her face in half; unconscious. "Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled as he moved to check on her.

Itachi and Sasuke both sweatdropped at that. "He's so oblivious." Sasuke mumbled while Itachi nodded.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, in a field near Tazuna's house

"Dog, Black Hole, Bugs; Spar with Naruto so we can see your abilities." Itachi said, causing the genin of team 8 to give him a 'are you fucking crazy? 3 on 1?' look.

Never one to miss a thing, Itachi nodded at them "Don't look at me like I'm stupid, concentrate on the fight, lest you all end up injured."

"Uchiha-sensei, Naruto's dick is surely too small to fight all 3 of us at once." Sai said as Naruto's eye began to twitch, his hand on autopilot bringing a cigarette to his lips.

"_What the fuck is with this guy and dicks?"_ All of team 7 thought simultaneously.

"Are you gay?" Sasuke spat out before he had a chance to stop himself.

"No I simply don't think he has the testicular fortitude to defeat us all at once."

"Right…"

At this point, Naruto dropped into a fighting stance, as did the other 3.

"Begin." Said Itachi

Instantly, Kiba and Akamaru sprinted towards Naruto while Shino's bugs filtered out into the air and Sai whipped out a scroll and began to draw frantically.

Naruto stood still until Kiba reached him and launched a right hook at his face, which he simply ducked under, before punching Kiba in the solar plexus.

Kiba flew backwards several feet before flipping and landing on his feet. He then pulled out a bottle of pills and flipped one to Akamaru. "Are you ready boy? Ninpo: Jujin Bunshin! Gatsuga!" **(Man-Beast Clone, Fang over Fang) **As the dog turned into a clone of Kiba. The pair then leapt into the air and began to spin as they raced towards Naruto, resembling cyclones.

Naruto dodged the attack with ease, before pulling his kodachi as he spun around, slicing though a black and white lion. He quickly leapt back as another lion crashed into the ground where he just was before it charged at him.

"Rasenrengan!" Naruto shouted as he formed a formed a Rasengan in each hand, driving one through the face of the lion, before spinning his body around and thrusting the other into a mass of Shino's beetles, blowing the lot away.

Naruto then sensed Kiba coming at him from behind with another Gatsuga. Turning quickly while doing hand selas, he said "Futon: Tatsumaki no Me." **(Eye of the tornado) **before thrusting both of his hands forward, releasing a large cyclone of wind that enveloped Kiba and Akamaru, countering their rotation and stopping them dead in their tracks. Before they could even reach the ground, Naruto appeared between them and kicked both away.

"Quite impressive for one with such a small dick." Sai said as he landed right beside Naruto, slashing towards him with his tanto.

"Horses are jealous of me, dick-boy." Naruto said with a grin as he parried the strike with his own blade.

"Maybe the female of the species, for taking all of their men." Sai said while the two continued the bout of kenjutsu, Naruto not noticing the plume of insects sneaking up on him.

Sai let loose one more slash, which was parried, before he jumped backwards and began to do hand seals.

Naruto was trying to figure out the jutsu when the cloud of bugs covered his body entirely. After just a moment the bugs left and returned to their 'hive' as Sai walked back up to the now unconscious Naruto.

"I told you that you were too small to-" He began before he sensed a chakra underneath him. He quickly tried to jump back, but it was too late as Naruto emerged from the ground and punched him on the chin, launching him into the air before forming 2 shadow clones. One of the clones leapt up and kicked Sai in the back, sending him higher, before dispelling. The second appeared above him and dropped an axe kick onto his stomach, rocketing him back towards the ground, and the real Naruto.

Just as Sai was about to collide with the ground, Naruto slammed a weak Rasengan into him, sending his now unconscious form flying towards Shino, who was unable to move in time.

"Okay then, good. Now I know what to work on. The dog boy is too rash, dick boy is fairly well rounded, and bugs needs more speed and taijutsu." Itachi said to the group. "Sasuke, I want you to work on the dog. Spar with him, and if he rushes in without thinking, punish him for it. Just leave him alive. Naruto, you work with dick boy on his kenjutsu, and myself and Hinata will work with Shino."

"Hai." The 2 boys said in unison before grabbing their respective charges and dragging them off into the woods.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Sasuke and Kiba, several minutes later.

"What the fuck happened?!" Kiba shouted as he came back to the realm of consciousness.

"You got your ass kicked. Now listen up, Itachi-sensei has put me in charge of your training for now. You act without thinking, and that is going to get you and your teammates killed one day. Now we are going to spar, think before you act." Sasuke said in a serious tone.

Kiba merely grunted and dropped to his fighting stance, Sasuke doing the same.

"Whenever you're ready." Sasuke said as Kiba darted towards him wide open.

Sasuke simply sighed and did a series of hand seals before a wave of lightning left his hands and passed over Kiba, knocking him to his ass in a seizure like motion. "Raiton: Jibashi."** (Electromagnetic Murder)**

"What the fuck?!" Kiba shouted in anger as he laid on the ground, unable to control his body currently.

"When you act before thinking, I will hurt you. Think of a plan before you attack, or you WILL die. Soon." Sasuke replied cooly, making Kiba even angrier.

Kiba stood up shakily and let out a battle cry and yelled out "Tsuga!" **(Passing Fang) **as he leapt at Sasuke in his familiar cyclone attack.

"_Sigh._ This is gonna be a long day. Raiton: Jibashi." Sasuke said as he blasted Kiba with the lightning jutsu again, knocking him unconscious.

XXXXXXXXXXX

With Naruto and Sai

Sai woke up silently to find Naruto standing a few feet away from him.

"Itachi has told me to work with you in your kenjutsu. Before we get started though, know this: every time you say the word 'dick', I will cause you physical harm."

"I see, Itachi believes you have a big enough dick to-" Sai was cut off as the blunt side of Naruto's kodachi found the side of his head, knocking him to the ground with a load of pain.

"I meant what I said." Naruto said as he sheathed his sword. "And fuckin smile some time why don't you."

Sai wordlessly stood back up and stared at Naruto, silently motioning for him to continue.

"How would you rate your skills with that blade?" Naruto said as he eyed the tanto that rested horizontally across Sai's back.

"I am proficient in Kenjutsu. Danzo-sama trained me personally before his death."

"_So he is one of Danzo's lackeys… that explains the emotionlessness." _Naruto thought as he backed away a few steps. "Show me." He said as he drew his kodachi.

Sai unsheathed his tanto and dropped to a ready stance before Naruto gave the sign to begin, and he leapt at Naruto and attempted a sideways slash. Naruto parried the blow easily before kicking Sai in the ribs and launching him several feet backwards. Before he could regain a proper footing, Naruto was upon him with a downward slash.

He got his blade up to parry, but only just, though the strike knocked him off balance, earning him a blow to his right clavicle with the blunt side of Naruto's sword, forcing him to the ground.

Naruto backed away and waited on Sai to get up. It didn't take long, though he grunted in pain when he moved his right arm.

"You should know, kenjutsu is more of a dance than a fighting style. Your movements need to be fluid. Every move you make should flow into the next seamlessly. You must be light on your feet; keeping your balance at your core. The smallest fumble could cost you your life, as you just saw. Now try again, but try to remain on balance even after you take a hit."

Sai nodded before charging at Naruto once more, launching blow after blow at Naruto, only to have them all parried.

"You call this proficient? Your attacks are too straightforward and too stiff, throw some feints in there, and make your transmissions smoother." Naruto said while still dodging and parrying all of Sai's strikes.

After several minutes, Naruto stopped the spar. "Sai have you ever trained with anything besides a tanto?"

"No, this was what we were all given; no options."

"I see…" Naruto then pulled out a scroll and unsealed a spare kodachi from it and handed it to Sai. "Try with this, I personally think that a tanto is too small to be called a proper sword. I believe the size is why it is so hard for you to flow smoothly."

Sai looked at the blade for just a moment before doing a couple of practice swings to get the feel of it. "Thank you dickless, I like-" he once more found himself on the ground clutching his side in pain, courtesy of Naruto's kodachi.

"Remember what I said about dicks? Now get up and lets see how you do with that."

Sai slowly stood back up and, after catching his breath, charged at Naruto once again. It took a moment for him to get used to the extra weight and length of the kodachi, but soon he was doing better, actually managing to land a hit on Naruto once.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

With Itachi, Hinata, and Shino

"You need to work on your taijutsu and speed more. You rely on your clan techniques too much. If anyone was to get close, you would be in trouble. For this session, you will spar with Hinata, learning to dodge her strikes. Remember, if you get hit, it will close off your tenketsu and hurt like hell. Go." Itachi said as Hinata quickly and gracefully leapt at Shino, throwing several jyuken strikes at him.

He managed to dodge a few of the blows, but several connected with him, closing off all the tenketsu in his left arm, and as Itachi said, hurting like hell.

"Naruto." Itachi said to seemingly no one, before Naruto appeared in front of him in a vortex of flames.

"Yes?"

"Please put a weight seal on Shino."

"Hai." Naruto replied. "Shino, raise your shirt.

Shino reluctantly complied, before Naruto did a few hand seals and touched his palm to Shino's chest as an array of seals spread out from the contact.

"Fuin." **(Seal) **Naruto said as Shino collapsed to the ground.

"Thank you Naruto-kun. Now then Shino, get up, and run laps around this field until you pass out or get used to the weight. If you fall off pace, Hinata will 'motivate' you to continue. Go."

Shino struggled to stand up and began to run as fast as he could around the field, which was only a light jog at normal.

"_Fuck Itachi. Why? Because he is a slave-driving asshole. Though logically, if I listen to him, I will get better. Damn logic."_ Shino thought as he jogged his laps with Hinata hot on his heels.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

**Not much here, just the pre-showdown training. Next time will be the fighting. Hope you all enjoyed.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Welcome back for another chapter of **_**What Could've been. **_**I hope you all enjoy.**

**I bet you expected a disclaimer here huh?**

**Nope, it goes here this time: I don't own Naruto, it owns me.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

The week of training carried on without problem, save for the fact that the genin of team 8 went to bed at night praying for the death of team 7. The day before the bridge was to be finished, Kakashi was finally healed enough to fight. They had made their plan of attack, and now the only thing to do was wait.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

At the bridge, the next morning

As the group approached the bridge for their final day of building, they weren't really surprised to see a thick mist enveloping the area. As they drew nearer, they saw several unconscious men laying on the ground around the bridge.

"Well well Kakashi, it seems you called for help huh?" A voice rang out from somewhere within the mist.

"That I did Zabuza, we intend to stop you here."

"Another Jonin and a few more brats will make no difference. You will all die here if you don't surrender the bridge builder."

"Not gonna happen Zabuza." Kakashi replied in a fierce tone, far different from what most of the people there had heard him use before.

"Very well then, of course you know what comes next."

Kakashi gave no verbal reply this time, he just glanced towards Naruto who nodded back and flashed through a series of handseals.

"Futon: Daitoppa! Move!" Naruto yelled out as he exhaled a large gust of wind that cleared out the mist, revealing Zabuza, the hunter nin, and the Demon Brothers. As soon as the targets were visible teams 7 and 8 disappeared quickly to engage.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Itachi appeared in front of Zabuza and launched a kick at his ribcage, only to have it blocked. Itachi quickly leapt back as Zabuza's massive sword came crashing down on the place where he was just standing.

"Zabuza this is an unnecessary fight, why don't you simply surrender?" said Itachi.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I have to kill the bridge builder to get paid, and I need the money to stage a rebellion and kill the Mizukage."

"_Sigh._ I'd rather not have to do it this way, but my mission is to protect him, and I will do so at all costs."

Itachi then began to go through hand seals before calling out "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu." As he spat out several small fireballs at Zabuza, who dodged or blocked them all.

"You'll have to do better than that against me Uchiha." Zabuza said as he began to do hand seals, while Itachi began to copy them in sync with his Sharingan.

"Suiton: Suiryuendan!" Both said at once as 2 large dragons rose from the water and began to clash against each other.

"Damn you and your Sharingan Uchiha!" Zabuza shouted as he lunged at Itachi with his sword.

Itachi quickly pulled out a kunai and parried the strike before jumping back once more, doing more hand seals.

"Suiton: Teppodama."**(Gunshot)** Itachi said as he fired out a large ball of water at Zabuza.

Zabuza jumped to the side to avoid the attack, only to jump again and narrowly miss a lightning covered fist via Kakashi.

"Chidori." Kakashi said as he recovered and leapt to Itachi's side.

"I was wondering when you would jump in Copy-Nin." Zabuza said as he began more hand seals, this time being copied by both Kakashi and Itachi.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" all 3 called at once as literally half of the river below rose up and shot towards each other.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto arrived in front of Haku and dropped into his ready stance, as Haku did the same and began to speak.

"I apologize for this, but if you won't hand over the bridge builder, I will be forced to kill you; It is Zabuza-sama's will." SHE **(Goddammit Haku is a girl I don't care what anyone says!) **said from behind her mask.

"I don't want to do this anymore than you, Hunter-san, but it is our mission to protect him, and we shall."

"I see. I will have to kill you then." Haku said as she began to do one handed hand seals.

"Sensatsu Suisho!" **(Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death)** she said as a thousand needles of chilled water formed around Naruto before shooting towards him.

"Katon: Hi no Uzu." **(Vortex of Flames) **Naruto said as a vortex of flames erupted from the ground around his body, effectively evaporating the needles.

"Well done Konoha-nin." Haku said as the flames around Naruto died down.

"It's Naruto." Naruto said. "I think you should know the name of your opponent."

"I'm Haku. I appreciate the respect, Naruto."

Naruto simply nodded before phasing from existence, reappearing with his sword imbedded in a wall of ice in front of Haku. He jerked his sword out and leapt backwards just in time to avoid a flurry of well placed senbon, before he began doing hand seals.

"Raiton: Jibashi." Naruto said as he thrust a palm forward, releasing a large bolt of lightning. Haku dodged narrowly, but still received a jolt from the attack, giving Naruto just enough time to get in and slam his knee into her face hard enough to crack her mask.

As the pieces of the mask fell away, Naruto had to stop himself for just a moment to silence the warning bells going off in his head again. Elsewhere, Hinata found herself pissed off, but didn't know why exactly.

"You know, you are one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. It's a shame that we are on opposite sides." Naruto said to her as she climbed back up off the ground.

"Thank you for the compliment Naruto-san, I suppose I am glad to have you as my opponent. Honor is hard to find in a shinobi… Tell me Naruto-san, why do you fight?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before responding "I fight for my village; to protect the people that I love. I intend to become the Hokage one day so that I may protect them all."

"Then you will become truly strong one day, fighting for your precious people will take you far."Haku said as she threw several senbon at Naruto, before disappearing from sight.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke leapt down in front of Gozu and Meizu alongside Hinata, and without a word the demon brothers charged in at the pair with their chain.

Sasuke quickly threw a kunai into one of the rungs on the chain, stalling their advance, as he leapt over and kicked Gozu in the face.

Gozu flew back several feet before righting himself and landing on his feet just in time to dodge an axe kick from Sasuke, before throwing his own kick towards Sasuke.

Sasuke grabbed Gozu's leg and twisted around, slamming him into the ground before he leapt back and began to do hand seals. "Raiton: Jibashi!" he shouted as he launched a bolt of lightning at Gozu.

Gozu tried to get up and away fast enough, but didn't make it, and was knocked unconscious when the lightning passed through him.

After Sasuke first engaged Gozu; Hinata attacked Meizu with a jyuken strike to the chest, but he dodged it, and kicked Hinata in the ribs, knocking her back several feet.

Just as Hinata recovered, she had to dodge a slash from Meizu's clawed gauntlet, before she connected a palm to his stomach, forcing him back just a bit.

"Sen'eijashu Jyuken!" Hinata said as 2 snakes shot out of her sleeves and began to strike at Meizu, releasing a burst of chakra with every bite, like they were jyuken strikes.

Meizu dodged for just a moment before the snakes overcame him and he passed out from lack of chakra.

XXXXXXXXXX

The 3 walls of water collided, before Itachi and Kakashi's overpowered Zabuza's.

Zabuza tried to dodge, but didn't have enough time to move, and was collect into the raging stream of water, before slamming into the bridge.

"Damn those Sharingan! I think my fucking arm is broke! I'll fuckin kill-"

"Well well, couldn't get the job done, ayy Zabuza? No matter, I wasn't going to pay you anyways. Kill them all." Interrupted a short man in a black suit as he and an army of thugs walked onto the end of the bridge.

"The fuck did you just say?!" Roared Zabuza as he stood back up with his now deformed right arm. "Shit I can't even use my sword now!"

"Zabuza." Kakashi said as he threw a kunai blunt side first at Zabuza.

"Thanks." Zabuza answered as he caught the kunai with his good arm, before charging towards the crowd of thugs.

XXXXXXXXX

Naruto blocked the senbon with his sword before jumping out of the way as Haku dropped an axe kick into the ground where he stood.

"Makyo Hyosho!" **(Demonic Ice Mirrors)** Haku said as the water from her thousand needles gathered up and formed into a dome of ice mirrors around Naruto. "No one has ever seen this technique and lived to tell the tale."

Suddenly, an image of Haku appeared in all of the mirrors as once. She then drew back a handful of senbon, but as she was about to throw them, she stopped and said "What? Zabuza-sama!" before dropping the technique and shunshinning to Kakashi and Itachi's side to see what was happening.

Naruto followed suit soon after, and said "What's going on here?"

"Gato betrayed Zabuza, so he is in the process of dying." Kakashi said cooly.

"Hmm." Naruto said as he watched Zabuza cut the bandits down without mercy. "Has your team killed yet Kakashi-sempai?"

"No, this was our first C-Rank. Why?"

"Now would be a good time to get it over with."

"Good point. Team 8!"

"Yes sensei?" Shino, Sai, and Kiba all said in unison as they ran up.

"Go help Zabuza kill the bandits, but stay out of his way."

"Hai!" They all said before leaping off into the fray.

"Hinata-chan." Naruto said as Hinata and Sasuke walked up with the demon brothers tied up. "Why don't you go help them out?"

Hinata simply nodded before she ran off into the sea of blood, bugs, ink, and thugs.

"Well then, I suppose this means our mission is over, since Zabuza has no reason to fight with us anymore." Itachi said, earning nods from everyone else.

"Yes I think you're right Konoha-san, we have no more commitment to Gato. Though I don't know where we will go now."

"Hmm… You were never registered as a shinobi in Kiri, so you could come to Konoha and join our ranks."

"What of Zabuza-sama?"

"Well, unfortunately, he 'died' during the battle of the bridge, but I bet there is a spot in ANBU for Devil." Naruto replied with a small grin.

Haku smiled back a bit "I would like that, but it will be up to Zabuza-sama."

It wasn't long before Zabuza, Hinata, and team 8 came back, with Zabuza holding Gato's head in his good arm.

"Little bastard, I hope he is in the deepest level of hell." Zabuza said as he tossed the head over the edge of the bridge.

"So, Zabuza, what will you do now?" Kakashi asked after He, Naruto, Itachi, and Zabuza walked away from the group.

"Well, we no longer have a qualm with Konoha, I hope you understand that it was simply a job."

"Of course."

"As for what I'll do… I suppose we will continue travelling to look for more work."

"Would you be interested in returning to Konoha with us?"

"I'm a missing nin, I'd never be allowed there."

"Actually, we discussed it already. You would have to 'die' here, but I believe there is an open spot in our ANBU for someone of your skillset." Naruto said, deciding to jump in.

"Hmm… Are you sure it would be okay?"

"Absolutely, if you were in ANBU, no one would know your identity besides us and Haku." Itachi said.

"Then it sounds like a plan to me. What of the other brats though?"

"Kakashi, take your team and head back, and we will 'take care' of things here." Itachi said as Kakashi nodded and walked off.

"Zabuza, create a clone and substitute with it." Itachi said once Kakashi's team was almost out of sight.

Zabuza complied, and as soon as the substitution was done, Naruto drove a Futon Rasengan through the clone's chest, 'killing' him.

"Done." Naruto said cheerfully as Itachi and Zabuza both sweat-dropped. "Now then, let's get out of here."

XXXXXXXXXX

The next day, Tazuna completed the bridge with no more troubles, and team 7, along with Haku and Demon, left wave country.

They made the trip home with no troubles, and now found themselves in Hiruzen's office.

"Team 7 reporting in, Hokage-sama." Itachi said as they walked in.

"Well done. Who are your guests?" Hiruzen replied.

"This" Itachi said as he pointed at Haku. "Is Haku Yuki. She is a Hyoton Kekkai Genkai user, and this" He then pointed to Zabuza. "Is unofficially Zabuza Momoichi. We offered him a position in our ANBU, since he is a missing nin and can't be a regular Jonin."

"I see. That is fine with me, It will be nice to have you, Zabuza-san, Haku-san."

"We appreciate your hospitality, Hokage-sama. It will be an honor to serve under you. I do have some information you may like to hear concerning Kiri, or more specifically the Mizukage, but we can save that for later."

"Yes we can talk on that matter after you've all had time to rest." Hiruzen said as he fished through a drawer in his desk and came back with a set of keys. "Here is an apartment for yourself and Haku-san, if you two don't mind living together."

"That will be fine, thank you Hokage-sama." Zabuza said as he retrieved the keys from Hiruzen.

"You are all dismissed; Zabuza-san, please be here at 09:00 tomorrow morning. Kotestu." Hiruzen replied as said chunin appeared from nowhere.

"Please show these two to the shinobi apartment complex Kotetsu."

"Hai." Kotetsu replied as the group departed from the office.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

**Kind of short, but that's just where it needs to end. Hope you all enjoyed, or at least aren't too enraged that I saved Zabuza and Haku. Anyways, review and all that good shit.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Welcome back everyone. I had a bit of a time-skip here, but I couldn't force myself to write several months worth of an ANBU team doing D ranks and training. I hope you're not too upset, but if you are, the number to my complaint line is 1-800-GOFUCKYOURSELF (hah. See what I did there?)**

**I don't own a damn thing.**

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

"Alright maggots listen up; I don't like repeating myself!" Yelled Anko as she stood in front of a large crowd of chunin candidates. "As you all know, I am the proctor of this exam. Each team will receive either a heaven or an earth scroll; you have 5 days to obtain both scrolls and make your way to the tower in the center of this forest. Any questions?"

A random genin then raised his hand "Why is this called the forest of death?"

Anko got an evil twinkle in her eye as she replied "Kid have you ever had a nightmare? Take the worst nightmare you ever had, multiply it by 10, and you've got this forest."

Said genin and his team, along with a few other teams were never seen again.

"Okay if there are no more pussies out there, sign these forms, and then 1 person from each team will come to this desk and trade 3 releases for 1 scroll."

"What are the forms for?" Shikamaru asked as they were being passed around.

"To release myself and Konoha from liability if any of you are, oh lets say maimed or killed or anything of that sort." Anko replied in a singsong voice.

"Troublesome. I qu- OW!" Shikamaru began but was cut off when Ino's fist impacted his head.

"Okay, everyone find a gate! The exam begins in 5 minutes!" Anko yelled out as the genin began to scatter.

XXXXXXXXXX

"What's the plan?" Sasuke asked as team 7 gathered at their gate.

"We've got 5 days to get to the tower, so we spend 3 days 'snake hunting' and then go straight to the tower. Of course I don't have to tell you that if you see him, don't engage. We're good but the 3 of us together couldn't beat him." Naruto answered, receiving 2 nods in the affirmative as a bell rang across the forest and the gates opened up.

Team 7 wasted no time leaping through the gate and into the trees.

"Hinata, check the area with your Byakugan. Kagebunshin no Jutsu." Naruto said as 20 clones appeared around him and took off through the forest, all with their Sharingan active.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and searched the area around them for a while before she cut it off. "I don't see anything within a mile besides some genin teams."

Naruto nodded and said "Okay, check every 10 minutes or so for any sign of him or the Oto team."

"Hai."

After several hours of looking, Naruto decided to start looking for somewhere to set up camp.

"Hinata, can you find us a cave nearby to use as a camp?"

"Hai. Byakugan." Hinata replied before scanning the area for a moment and changing their path towards a cave she found a couple miles away.

A few minutes into their travel towards the cave, Hinata waved the group to the ground as a team of genin from Kiri dropped into the clearing.

"Well well, looks like we found our scroll early on." Said one of the Kiri genin.

"Yea, if you just hand over your scroll we will let you live." Said another of the genin with a twisted grin on his face.

"How about this; turn around and leave now, and we'll forget about this incident. Stay, and they won't be able to identify your bodies." Naruto said in his ANBU captain voice.

"Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way." Said the first Kiri genin as they all dropped into their fighting stances.

Team 7 didn't bother to get in a stance, which pissed off the Kiri team.

"Are you not even going to fight back? Do you dare disrespect us?!" the first one yelled out as he began to do handseals. "Suiton: Teppodama!" he said as he fired off 3 softball sized water bullets towards team 7.

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other for a moment before they both began to do handseals. "Raiton: Jibashi!" Both called out at once as they fired off 2 large lightning bolts that combined into one massive bolt.

The large lightning bolt tore through the water bullets like it was nothing before hitting the Kiri genin and exploding in a flash of bluish-white light. When the light died down, all that remained of him was a smear on the ground.

"Want to reconsider our offer?" Naruto said calmly as the other 2 Kiri genin scowled at him.

"You killed Oyu! Like hell we'll let you go now!" Said the lone kunoichi of the group as they both lunged at team 7.

"Katon: Hosenka." Sasuke said as he inhaled a deep breath.

"Futon: Rasen Bofu." **(Spiraling wind storm)** Naruto said as he did the same.

"Moukaton: Kajiarashi no Jutsu!" **(Inferno Release: Firestorm A/N different from canon 'Enton') **Both boys said in unison as Sasuke spat out a volley of fireballs that got absorbed into Naruto's twister, making the small fireballs grow larger and burn hotter while lashing out in a large path in front of team 7.

The female Kiri genin quickly tried to defend herself with a water wall, but the firestorm burned right through it and killed her and her partner instantly.

"Foolish little bastards. We warned em." Sasuke said as he walked over and dug a scroll out of the kunoichi's ashes.

"Fuck this is the same one we already have." Sasuke said as he pitched the scroll to Naruto who stuck it in his pocket.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The next day

Team 7 woke up before the sun rose and set off on their search for Orochimaru once again, hoping to find him sleeping.

It wasn't meant to be, however, as they spent several hours searching with no results. Just as they were about to return to camp for a break, a giant snake crashed through a tree and into the group, causing them all to scatter.

"Hinata, go!" Naruto yelled as landed on a nearby tree. In a battle of the caliber, though she was strong, Hinata would only be a liability; which is why Naruto wanted to avoid the fight in the first place.

Hinata quickly followed Naruto's orders and leapt away from the scene in a blur, heading for the central tower.

"Kukuku SSSSassssuke-kun… I finally found you." Said the 'Kusa genin' that was standing atop the snake.

"Why are you here Orochimaru?" Naruto yelled out as he stared the man… thing… down.

"SSSimple really… I came to give Sssasssuke-kun a gift. Kukuku." Oro said as he leapt from the snakes head so fast the pair could barely follow him with their Sharingan on.

Sasuke threw up a block at the last second, but it did little good as the force from Oro's kick blasted him back through a tree anyways. Oro then rounded on Naruto with a sick smile on his face, before he reached up and literally tore his face off.

"_What the fuck is he?" _Naruto thought as he watched the man remove his face.

"Kukuku Naruto-kun, I didn't realize you had the Sssharingan too… I'll have to give you my gift as well." Oro said as he jumped back onto the snake before it lunged at Naruto.

"Shit! Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled out as 3 clones appeared and slowed the snake down enough for him to dodge while doing handseals.

"Katon: Ao Karyuendan!" Naruto yelled out as he blasted a massive blue fire dragon at Orochimaru.

Oro and the snake had no trouble dodging the technique as it flew by them and well into the sky. "Well Naruto-kun. That is an impressssive jutsu you have there… if only you could aim it a bit better."

"Check again Hebi-pedo." Naruto said with a grin as Oro looked up to notice several dark storm clouds forming.

"Oh and what is the purpose of that?"

"Kirin!" Sasukes voice rang out before being drowned out by the sound of thunder as a bolt of lightning shot out of the clouds above and hit Orochimaru before the entire world turned white around them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Hokage tower

"Hokage-sama there was the signal." Itachi said to Hiruzen as the pair looked out of Hiruzen's window as the large mass of blue fire shot up out of the forest of death.

"Let's move, quick! Neko, Akuma!" Hiruzen shouted as 2 ANBU came out of the shadows and the group took off towards the forest.

As they were leaping along the rooftops at breakneck pace, they noticed the storm clouds building over the forest, but just attributed them to the intense heat from Naruto's signal.

They thought that until an unnatural looking lightning bolt shot out of the cloud and exploded into the ground in a flash of white.

"Shit we need to hurry!" Hiruzen said as the group dug down and found a new level of speed.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The white light died down to reveal pieces of snake blown all over the clearing, but no sign of Oro.

"Sasuke stay on guard, he's still here." Naruto said as he scanned the area with his Sharingan.

"Shit that was the best attack we have. I hope the backup gets here quick." Sasuke replied while doing his own scan.

All of a sudden, a fairly large white snake popped up out of the ground where Oro was when the attack hit, putting the 2 on guard. The snake then opened it's mouth extremely wide and… regurgitated Oro onto the ground.

"Kukuku that was quite the attack you have. Anyone besides me would have been killed." Oro said as he stood up and 'shed' his half-destroyed 'skin'.

"Bastard… You're not even human anymore…" Naruto said.

"You are correct Naruto-kun… I am beyond you mere mortals now." Oro said before turning his head towards the Hokage tower. "Well it seems someone is coming to ruin our fun. I was just getting warmed up too, damn."

Oro then extended his neck and shot his head towards Sasuke so fast that he didn't have a chance to move. The head wrapped around his torso 3 times before Oro reached his shoulder and sunk his fangs in… just as Sasuke disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Ahhhh!" Naruto yelled out as he felt Oro bite into him, mixing their chakras and forming the cursed seal on his shoulder. Naruto felt like liquid fire was running through his veins. He was sure that any minute he would die from it. Sadly though, the sweet blissfulness that is death wouldn't claim him.

"You're not Sasssuke-kun, but you'll do. I must take my leave now, your friends are…" That was all Naruto heard before he blacked out from the pain.

Naruto spent what felt like 10 years having the worst nightmares of his life, before he finally woke up. He could feel the vile chakra from Oro coursing through his veins, as well as the malevolent chakra of Kurama. It almost felt as if the 2 were fighting for dominance. But goddamn did he feel strong.

He finally willed his body to stand up, and noticed that Sasuke was outside of their shelter in a battle royale with a Kumo and Oto team, and he wasn't fairing well. He then noticed that Hinata was unconscious against a nearby tree. Oh hell no. He felt the power of the both of his warring chakras increase 10 fold, as every genin in the clearing, including Sasuke, froze in place. Some of them dropped to the ground and passed out while pissing themselves. 1 of them actually took a kunai out and buried it in his own brain from the killing intent that was radiating off of Naruto.

He stood up and walked outside of the cave, causing another two to take their own life when they saw Naruto's appearance.

He had elongated fangs and claws, and his whisker marks were more defined. He looked feral, and very fucking scary. Aside from the normal feral look he had black flame like markings covering most of his skin, and had a deep purpleish-red chakra shroud surrounding him with 3 tails waving behind it.

"**Which one of you bastards hurt Hina-chan?"** Naruto said in a demonic voice.

"I did! What are you gonna do about it?" Said the Oto genin in the yellow shirt with brown spiky hair.

"Zaku you fucking fool!" hissed the one wrapped in bandages.

"It's Orochimaru-sama's orders Dosu. We have to kill him or die trying."

"I'll take my chances fighting Orochimaru." Dosu said as he turned and leapt off towards the treeline.

He didn't make it 10 feet before there was a spray of blood from the place his right shoulder used to occupy. Everyone noticed Naruto holding said arm with his foot on Dosu's back, but he was also still standing in front of the cave.

"_I never seen him make a shadow-"_ Sasuke thought as the 'Naruto' by the cave faded away. _"After image? Shit he's fast."_

__"AHHH!" Screamed Dosu as he grabbed his bleeding 'stump' with his good arm, before his body was rocketed into the ground by Naruto, causing a large explosion.

"W-W-What the fuck are you?" Yelled out the Oto kunoichi.

"**A nightmare."** Naruto said before Zaku found both legs missing.

As Zaku lay on the ground screaming in pain, Naruto spoke over the shouts **"Remove this fucking trash from my sight before I kill you too. Make sure he lives."**

Kin didn't need to be told twice as she grabbed Zaku and leapt into the trees in a blur.

Naruto then turned towards Sasuke **"Didn't I say fucking leave?"**

"Naruto it's me, Sasuke!" Sasuke shouted as he started backing away in fear.

"**Die." **Naruto said as he blurred from existence and reappeared in front of Sasuke with a dark purple rasengan in hand.

"Osaeru Fuin!" Hiruzen's voice called out as he appeared between Naruto and Sasuke and drove his palm into Naruto's chest, blowing him back several feet.

Itachi, Yugao, and Zabuza dropped from the trees and surrounded Naruto as the chakra shroud faded away and he returned to normal.

"What… happened?" Naruto muttered out weakly.

"Goddamn snake. He marked you with his cursed seal and it, along with the Kyuubi, were influencing you." Hiruzen replied as he walked closer.

Sasuke, for his part, relieved his bladder and dropped to the ground in a cold sweat now that the adrenaline was gone. "He was only a second away from killing me… Holy fuck…"

"Sorry…" Naruto muttered out as he tried to sit back up. Hiruzen assisted him before turning to look at the cursed seal.

"Hmmm…" Hiruzen pondered out loud before he pulled out a scroll and unsealed a large scroll from it. He then unrolled the large scroll that had several sealing marks written on it and shifted Naruto's body onto it before starting a long series of hand seals. "Naruto-kun, be still; and this will hurt like a bitch. Fuja Hoin." Hiruzen said as the seals began to glow around Naruto before they receded onto Naruto's skin and formed a seal around the cursed seal, making Naruto scream in pain once again.

After a few seconds, the seal receded into Naruto's skin and he quit screaming, though he was breathing hard.

"One more time… Osaeru Kaifu." Hiruzen said as he stuck his palm to Naruto's chest and released the suppression seal.

As soon as the seal was released, the cursed seal glowed for just a moment while leaking purple chakra, before the glow stopped and a fountain of red chakra blasted out of the seal, causing Naruto to pass out.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto's mindscape

"**Fucking pathetic. You got marked by that damn snake and I had to save you again." **Kurama growled out as he stared down at Naruto.

"I appreciate the help, fox. But don't talk down on me, you couldn't have done it if not for Jiji's help."

"**I am the mightiest of demons! I didn't need that decrepit old bastards help for anything!" **Kurama roared out.

When the fox insulted Hiruzen, Naruto's eyes unconsciously shifted to the Mangekyo again as he leveled a glare at said fox.

"**There you go with those goddamned eyes again! I didn't mean any insult, he is fucking ancient by your standards!"**

"Don't _ever_ speak I'll of Jiji again, or your stay here will be a hell as my mindless slave." Naruto said as his Mangekyo began to rotate slowly, driving the point home.

"**Grrr." **Kurama replied as Naruto left his mindscape to find himself in the same spot he was before with Hiruzen looking over him.

"Naruto-kun, how did you destroy the seal?"

"Kurama did it." Naruto replied "When I first woke up earlier, I could feel the curse seal and Kurama fighting each other. When you suppressed the cursed seal he didn't have any problems negating it."

"I see… well this turned out much better than it could have. Hurry and get to the tower so we can check over you good." Hiruzen said as he and the 3 others shunshinned away.

"Sasuke, you okay?" Naruto asked.

"Yea… just a bit scared… or terrified."

"Sorry about that… the cursed seal was fucking with my head bad… the only person I could recognize was Hinata-chan."

"Don't worry about it, I know you wouldn't do anything like that."

Naruto, being the prankster that he is, flashed his eyes red for just a moment before leaning in close to Sasuke. "Wouldn't I?"

"Don't fuck with me right now!" Sasuke yelled out as he punched Naruto in the face and leapt on top of him, intent on beating him to death.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hinata POV

She had just woke up, and was still fairly disorientated. She saw Naruto and Sasuke several feet away.

"Don't… It… You… do…like that." Was what she heard before seeing Naruto lean in really close to Sasuke.

"Fuck… me… now!" she heard as she saw Sasuke knock Naruto back and pounce on top of him.

"EWWW FAGS!" She yelled as she turned away and puked a little bit.

"Huh?" Said Naruto and Sasuke at the same time.

"You were about to fuck! EWW!" She yelled back.

"No… I was killing Naruto because he's a dickhead." Sasuke said, still confused.

"But you said 'Fuck me now' and jumped on him?"

"No Hinata-chan, he said 'DON'T fuck WITH him RIGHT now'." Naruto added in.

"Oh… I'll be watching you two just in case…" Hinata said with uncertainty in her voice.

"_Sigh._ Did we get the scroll we needed from either of those teams that died?" Sasuke nodded affirmative. "Okay you two come hold on." Naruto said as he pulled a three pronged kunai out of his pocket and threw it high in the air towards the tower. "I've never tried to take more than just myself, hopefully it will work." Naruto said as team 7 disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Hope you all enjoyed. Just to clarify some things, the first exam went pretty much the same as canon (minus loud Naruto's shouts), and the second exam did as well, except for Dosu's death. (well, as you seen it wasn't the same, but the results are the same as canon minus the Oto team.**

**Review reply:**

**Supervegitofan: I agree with you about the gender changing thing. I couldn't take a male character and make him a female, it's just not right. Haku though, I think Kishi was stoned when he made Haku. He is clearly a girl but Kishi just hit the bong one time too many and thought it would be funny to fuck with us.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Welcome back once again. Not much to ****I don't own Naruto****. say here, so just enjoy.**

**Hah, I put my disclaimer in a different place this chapter.**

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

There was a bright flash of yellow light in front of the exam tower. When the light died down, Team 7 was seen standing there, with Naruto panting heavily.

"Well… it worked, but damn it took a lot out of me." Naruto said.

"Wow that felt great!" Hinata said with a smile while Sasuke nodded.

"Alright lets get inside, I need some rest." Naruto said as he and the others walked inside the tower and opened their scrolls.

There was a poof of smoke and Itachi stood in front of them. "Good job. Naruto come with me, Sasuke, Hinata, your room is on the third floor; go rest for now." He said as he and Naruto shunshinned away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Basement of the tower

Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Yugao, and Zabuza were sitting in a room along with a medic-nin waiting on Naruto to arrive.

They didn't wait long before Naruto and Itachi appeared inside the room.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, how are you?" Hiruzen said as he stood up and walked over to Naruto.

"I'm fine Hokage-Jiji. Just a bit tired." Naruto replied.

"Good. I'd like to have Jiraiya look at your seal, and have this medic give you a check-up."

Naruto simply nodded and removed his shirt before sitting down in an exam chair.

Jiraiya walked over and looked at his seal, as well as the place where the cursed seal was. "Well, everything looks fine to me." He said as the medic came over and began his check up.

"Everything appears to be fine for the most part. You have a mild case of chakra exhaustion, but it is recovering at a rapid pace. You should be fine by morning."

"Thank you, you are dismissed." Hiruzen said to the medic nin, before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Now, Naruto, at this point in the exams, you will be given an option to quit before the preliminaries or the final round, whichever happens. You and Sasuke may now quit and resume ANBU duties without hurting Hinata's chances or your mission, seeing as everyone will be in proximity to the exam now. I want your team as the guard around the Kage's box. Itachi, you will be in the box with me as my personal guard. Any questions?"

Hiruzen took everyone's silence as his answer. "Dismissed." He said as everyone shunshinned away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Team 7's room

Naruto appeared in the room in swirl of flames, startling Hinata and Sasuke, who were talking about strategy for the next part of the exam.

"Way to scare the shit of someone." Sasuke said.

"Hah. Sorry." Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyways, Sasuke, we're out of the exam now. The next round is going to be individual fights, so we are to withdraw and resume ANBU duty."

"Sweet!" Sasuke half yelled out as he wiped a tear away. He had to fight the urge to jump up and hug Naruto.

"What about me?" Hinata asked.

"You will continue the exams as normal, and when the invasion starts, you will help evacuate the civilians along with the other genin." Naruto replied, earning a nod from Hinata.

XXXXXXXXX

3 days later

The 5 day limit for the exam had now passed; Team 7, team 8, team 9, team 10, and Kabuto's team from Konoha made it, along with Gaara's team, a team from Kumo, and one from Kiri. Now we find all of the chunin hopeful in a stadium inside the tower.

"First off, I'd like to congratulate you all on making it this far. Next, I want to remind you all of the real reason for this exam. The chunin exams are an alternative to war; instead of countries waging wars, we gather twice a year to compete and showcase the talents of our up and coming shinobi. Now then, the rules for the competition." Hiruzen said before he was interrupted.

"_Cough cough _Allow me Hokage-sama _cough _I think I should explain the rules since _cough _I am the proctor. I am _cough _Hayate Gekko. The rules, _cough_ simply put, there are none. _Cough _The screen will randomly pick two names, and _cough_ the two contestants will fight until one is dead _cough_, one of you surrender, or I call the match. When I say stop, _cough _you stop, or you will be stopped. Understand?" Said a sickly looking jonin with a bandana for a hitae-ate.

All of the genin nodded, prompting him to speak again. "Alright, do any of you wish to _cough _quit now? Your decision will not _cough_ affect your teammates from now on."

Naruto, Sasuke, Kabuto, and one of the Kiri genin all raised their hands.

"Very well, you are dismissed." Hayate said as the 3 walked off to the observation area.

The screen then flashed through names for a moment before stopping on Rock Lee and one of the Kumo shinobi.

"Would _cough_ Rock Lee of Konoha and _cough_ Kazama from Kumo please come down."

"YOSH! I AM THE FIRST TO GET TO SHOW MY FLAMES OF YOUTH!" Lee shouted out.

"YES LEE! SHOW THE WORLD HOW BRIGHTLY YOUR YOUTH BURNS!" Gai shouted

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!" the two yelled as a genjutsu of waves crashing into a beach with a setting sun overhead appeared behind the two.

Most everyone in the stadium sweatdropped or face-faulted at seeing this, including Hayate.

"Oh what the fuck! I don't even wanna be a chunin if I have to deal with that! I quit!" Yelled out Kazama.

Several seconds later, after Hayate recovered, he declared Lee the winner before calling out the next pair.

"Tenten of Konoha _cough_ and Temari of Suna!"

(Insert canon fight here)

"Winner_ cough _Temari! Hinata of Konoha and Kiba Inuzuka _cough_ of Konoha!"

Both contestants walked down to the arena and bowed to each other before hearing Hayate yell "Begin!"

Kiba immediately charged towards Hinata before jumping into the air and spinning. "Tsuga!"

Hinata dodged the strike at the last second before stretching out her hands "Sen'eijashu" she yelled as 4 snakes flew out of her sleeves and into Kiba's tornado, stopping him in his tracks. She then swung him around and threw him into the nearest wall.

"Oww dammit!" Kiba yelled out as he stood back up. He was about to blindly charge back in when he thought back to his 'training' with Sasuke. He was, however, brought out of his musings by Hinata's voice.

"Suiton: Teppodama!" she yelled out as she spat 3 water bullets at Kiba.

Neither Kiba or Akamaru were able to dodge them all, and were both slammed into the wall once more.

"Grr. Akamaru!" Kiba said as he stood back up and began to dig into his pouch for a soldier pill.

He never made it before he found himself wrapped up in a tree, with Hinata holding a kunai to his throat.

"Magen: Jubaku Satsu." Hinata said before Hayate called the match.

"Next match _cough_ Neji Hyuga and Choji Akimichi of Konoha!"

The two contestants made their way to the center of the arena. When they arrived, Neji began to speak.

"You may as well give up now. Fate has already decreed me the winner of this fight."

"I can't do that, there is too much riding on this fight!" Choji said with a fiery passion

XXXXXXXXX

_Flashback, 2 minutes ago._

"_Next match cough Neji Hyuga and Choji Akimichi of Konoha!" Hayate called out._

"_Damn, there's no way I can beat Neji. Maybe I should just give up." Choji said as he began to raise his hand._

"_No! Choji, do your best, and all you can eat barbeque is on me later!" Asuma yelled out from the area where all of the jonin sensei were after seeing his student about to quit._

"_Free barbeque?! Yea!" Choji said as he ran to the arena floor wide open_

_End flashback_

XXXXXXXXXX

"As you wish. I will not go easy on you." Neji said with his tone of superiority.

"Neither will I! Baika no Jutsu! Nikudan Sensha!" **(multi size, human bullet tank) **Choji yelled out as he grew large and round, before his head, arms, and legs disappeared and he began to spin in place.

Choji spun in place for a moment as Neji watched, before he shot out of his spot and rolled towards the Hyuga. Neji was able to jump out the way of the attack, and quickly noticed that Choji couldn't turn well in this form.

Neji spent the next couple of minutes leading Choji around the stadium before he came to a stop right beside the wall. Choji rounded on him and ran straight at him, but Neji jumped out of the way at the last second, causing Choji to crash into the wall thus stopping his spin. Neji quickly ran over and delivered several palm strikes, rendering Choji unsconscious.

"Winner, _cough _Neji Hyuga. Next up is Gaara of Suna and Tetsuo of Kumo!"

The two came down and wordlessly began their match. Tetsuo used a couple of raiton ninjutsu but Gaara's sand was able to block them all with ease.

Tetsuo stopped to try and think of a plan, but was interrupted from his thoughts as he felt something grab his ankle. He looked down to see that it was sand coming out of the ground. He tried to struggle and get away, but he was trapped and the sand soon covered him completely.

"Sabaku Soso." Gaara said flatly as he raised his open palm and squeezed it shut, causing the sand to implode and sending a fountain of blood out onto the ground, before he simply walked off.

After Hayate choked back the urge to vomit, he announced Gaara the winner and called the next match.

"Next match _cough _Shikamaru Nara and Misumi of Konoha."

"What a drag…" Said Shikamaru as he walked to the center of the arena.

Misumi didn't bother to speak as Hayate began the match.

Misumi quickly ran at Shikamaru before stretching his torso out to wrap around Shikamaru and crush him.

Shikamaru stood there unmoving until Misumi was only a few feet away, before bringing his hands into the rat symbol and catching Misumi in his shadows. Shikamaru then reached to his right hip and grabbed a kunai, before pulling it up to his throat as Misumi did the same. Did I forget to mention that Shikamaru didn't have a kunai pouch on his hip? Shikamaru held his empty hand to his throat while Misumi had a real kunai in his.

"Winner; Shikamaru!" Hayate yelled as Shika dropped his jutsu and lazily walked out of the arena.

"Damn. He's so lazy he just won a match without moving…" Ino said, causing everyone around to sweatdrop.

"Next up, Shino _cough _Aburame and Yoroi of Konoha."

The match began wordlessly as Yoroi started to run towards Shino, intent on draining his chakra. He didn't make it very far before a cloud of bugs flew out of Shino's coat and flew towards him. He managed to dodge them for a second before they got him.

"I surrender." Yoroi said, realizing that he was losing all of his chakra.

"Winner, Shino Aburame! Now then, Kankuro of Suna and Yasuo of Ku-_cough cough cough _what the_ cough cough _fuck!_ Cough cough. _Alright then, Yasuo of Kumo."

"You should go on and quit to save yourself some pain, your puppets don't stand a chance against me." Yasuo said as Kankuro simply grinned.

"Not gonna happen." Kankuro replied.

"Fine, we'll do this the hard way." Yasuo said as he charged towards Kankuro, launching a flurry of kicks and punches. Kankuro managed to dodge most of them, but finally one contacted his cheek, releasing a bolt of lightning from Yasuo's fist.

As the blow made contact, the lightning passed through Kankuro's head making it explode.

Yasuo grinned at his easy victory, but quickly realized something was wrong.

"_Shit! No blood, that means that-"_ Yasuo thought before he felt something peirce his stomach. He looked to the source of the blade to see that 'Kabuto' was now a puppet with six arms, and had a spike protruding from one of it's palms, which was buried into his stomach.

The bandaged lump on puppet Kankuro's back then unraveled to reveal the real Kankuro.

"That blade is covered in a powerful neurotoxin, you will die in five minutes if you don't get the antidote." Kankuro said as he held up a small vial. "Surrender and it's yours."

"Shit… I give up." Said Yasuo as Kankuro tossed him the vial of antidote.

"Winner is Kankuro. _Cough _Next match: Sai of Konoha and Nobu of Kiri!"

"Kirigakure no Jutsu." Nobu said as soon as the match began, filling the entire arena with a thick mist.

"Give up now, I have the advantage in this mist." Came Nobu's voice from everywhere at once.

"Hmm… Choju Giga." **(Super beast imitation drawing) **Sai said as he pulled out a brush and a notepad before doodling furiously. After a second or two, several small ink rats ran off his notepad and into the mist.

After a moment, Sai made another drawing and said "Choju Giga." As 2 ink lions ran off of his pad and into the mist. Soon, screams were heard before Nobu ran out of the mist and right into Sai, who pinned him to the ground with his Kodachi.

"It's over." Sai said simply as Hayate called the match.

"Ino Yamanaka of Konoha and Masaso of Kiri!"

"You're going down!" Ino yelled out as the two made their way to the floor.

"As if you weak bitch!" Masaso replied.

Hayate then began the match before Masaso went through some hand seals. "Suiton: Teppodama!"

Masaso shot out 3 balls of water towards Ino, who dodged them all with ease.

"Hmph, is that all you got?!" Ino shouted out before pulling several kunai and throwing them at her.

Masaso dodged the kunai without problems before she did another set of hand seals.

"Suiton: Teppodama!" She yelled out as she fired a single water ball at Ino, who once again dodged it.

Just as Ino landed on the ground again, Masaso appeared in front of her.

"Nighty night bitch." She said as she punched Ino in the face and knocked her out.

"Winner: Masaso. _Cough _Now then, congratulations on all of those who passed. In one months time, we will meet at the stadium in the village for the final round. Now that you have all seen the skills of your potential opponents, you can spend this month off training and preparing yourself for the next round." Hayate said as everyone began to file out of the arena.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

**Not my best work here, but it is tiring trying to write so many fights that aren't really important to the plot, yet need to be mentioned. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed.**

**I have a poll up on my profile concerning Naruto's relationship, I have my own opinion but I will consider what the reader's want as well.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Welcome back everyone. I have a surprise in this chapter, and some of you will surely hate it, while others cream their pants, and others still will be passive to it. Anywho, enjoy.**

**I don't own Naruto. Or Bleach. Or One Piece. Or (**Insert popular manga here**).**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Hello everyone, my name is Genma and I will be the proctor for this part of the exam. (You all know the story there, same as canon) I'd like to start off by saying welcome to everyone. Now without further a due, would Shikamaru Nara and Temari please come down." Genma said to the large crowd.

"Troublesome… I hate fighting women." Shikamaru muttered as he walked to the arena.

"Hey bastard! Don't think that just because I'm a woman I can't kick your ass!" Temari yelled back.

"_Sigh_ What a drag."

(Insert canon fight here)

"Umm… Winner… Temari of Suna. Gaara and Hinata, come on down."

As Hinata made her way to the arena, one would notice a large scroll strapped to her back that wasn't there before the month of training, but most played it off as unimportant.

"Fighters ready?" Genma asked, receiving a nod from both contestants.

"Begin!"

As soon as the match started, Gaara began to lash out with his sand tentacles, but Hinata managed to dodge them all while putting some distance between them.

As soon as Hinata was away from Gaara's sand, she pulled the large scroll off of her back and threw it up into the air, unraveling it as it went. Once the scroll was opened up, she bit her finger and ran a streak of blood down the length of it.

A cloud of smoke surrounded Hinata for just a moment before several blue balls began to fly out of it and pop against the ground, releasing a… bit of water. She threw out several balloons until the ground around her was good and wet before strapping the scroll back to her back and doing a set of hand seals.

"Suiton: Hahonryu!" **(Tearing torrent)** Hinata yelled out as all of the water she had just spilled out swirled up into the form of a large wave behind her before taking off towards Gaara.

As the wave neared, Gaara did the only thing he knew to do, and put up a wall of sand to block it.

The water and sand collided, and the water wave exploded outwards, soaking the area all around Gaara as well as blowing down the wall.

Gaara was fairly shocked at seeing something defeat his technique so easy, but paid it no mind. Nothing could hurt him as long as he had mother.

He was surprised one again when Hinata charged down the path of her previous wave, coming straight at him.

Gaara tried to will the sand to attack her, but it was reacting very sluggish due to being wet, and she easily dodged the slow moving tentacles and made it inside his guard.

Once Hinata got close to Gaara, she slammed her palm into Gaara's chest and shot him up into the air.

"Holy shit… no one has ever touched Gaara before!" Temari said in a semi panic.

"Yea this is bad!" Added Kankuro.

After Hinata launched Gaara into the air, she raised both palms towards him and released 5 snakes out.

4 of the snakes grabbed Gaara's arms and legs, while the fifth drew back to strike, before a blue ball of chakra formed in it's mouth.

"What the… is that the…" Kakashi mumbled out up in the stands.

"Sen'eijashu Rasengan!" Hinata yelled as the snake struck forward and slammed the ball of chakra into Gaara's chest, blasting him into the ground.

"Un-fucking-believable…" Kakashi said, his visible eye the size of a dish plate.

"**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH**!" came the voice of Gaara from within his crater, in a sickening tone. "**BLOOD! **_**MY BLOOD!**_"

Suddenly, a dome of sand formed over Gaara, muffling the screams.

"Shit not now! It's too early!" Temari yelled out, before feathers began to fall from the ceiling it seemed.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Kage box

"Long time no see, my student…" Hiruzen said as he leapt back onto a nearby roof.

The Kazekage quickly followed him, while Itachi was fighting back a crowd of Suna and Oto jonin.

"Yessss Ssssarutobi-ssssenssei. It's been too long… NOW!" 'The Kazekage' said as he tore his robes off, reealing…(Big surprise…) Orochimaru. As soon as he finished speaking, the sound 4 leapt up to the roof with them and formed a barrier around the 2.

"Assss you can see… it is me against you, and only one of us will leave here alive." Oro said with a chuckle.

"I'm going to finish what I should've done a long time ago. You will die here Orochimaru!" Hiruzen said as he ripped his robes off to reveal his black battle armor.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the arena

All hell had officially broke loose. Once the feathers begun to fall, all of the lower level shinobi and civilians fell asleep.

"Hinata, go wake up the other genin and begin the evacuation of the civilians!" Naruto yelled out as he appeared beside her in a swirl of flames.

Naruto then did a set of hand seals and said "Raiton: Jibashi!" as a large bolt of lightning shot out of his hands and blew Gaara's dome of sand apart.

Naruto started in for the kill, but before he could make it, Temari and Kankuro appeared beside Gaara and grabbed him before bolting away, towards the outside of the village.

"Ahh shit… Taka, with me. Neko, Akuma, defend the stadium." Naruto said as Sasuke dropped in beside him and the pair blurred away in pursuit of the sand siblings.

They caught up a few miles outside of the village in a clearing as Temari and Kankuro dropped Gaara and tried to run off.

"Sasuke, don't let them escape. They need to be captured alive." Naruto said before Sasuke nodded and took off.

"Mother wants your blood… I must kill you to prove my existence!" Gaara yelled out as his sand began to lash out furiously.

Naruto dodged all of the sand tentacles without problem, before appearing beside Gaara and punching him in the face.

Gaara flew back several feet before skidding to a stop and grinning maniacally. **"Hahaha yes I'm free! Finally free!" **Gaara yelled out in his demons voice. **"Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu!"**

Suddenly, sand started to rise out of the ground and wrap around Gaara, until he took the form of Shukaku; all that remained of Gaara was his chest and shoulders, jutting out of Shukaku's head.

"**YAY! NOW DIE! FUTON: RENKUDAN!" **Shukaku screamed as he sucked in a deep breath and punched himself in the stomach, blowing out a massive wind bullet towards Naruto.

Naruto dodged the bullet with ease, but as he landed from the dodge, everything went dark.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto woke up in the familiar setting of his mindscape sewer, staring down the massive fox.

"What the fuck? I'm in the middle of a fight here?!" Naruto yelled out.

"**Shut the fuck up and listen to me! Use my power kit. I want you show that piss ant his place."**

"I don't need your power I can take care of this on my own!"

"**It wasn't a goddamn option! I am the mightiest of the bijuu, and I want you to show him as much. Now go."**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto woke back up with everything just as it was when he left, except now he had a shroud of red chakra around him, and 9 tails flowing behind him.

"**Ohhh joy! Kurama it's been too long! I'm going to love killing you!" **Shukaku yelled out as he began to fire wind bullets at Naruto.

Naruto dodged several of the wind bullets, before stopping and letting one of them hit him head on. When the bullet hit, the ground around Naruto exploded, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

"**Fucking pathetic." **Naruto said with a chuckle, before a massive stream of flames erupted from the dust cloud. **"Have a taste of TRUE POWER!"**

Shukaku didn't move fast enough, and the fire hit his left arm, turning it to glass before blowing it off.

"**OWWW I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR THAT!" **Shukaku billowed out before launching more sand towards Naruto.

"_**Kit, to end this fight you need to wake the container. Or kill him. I don't give a shit one way or the other, but hurry and shut that bitch ass raccoon up." **_Kurama said inside Naruto's head.

Naruto then dodged several tentacles of sand before doing some hand seals. "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**." He said as he slammed a palm to the ground.

A large cloud of smoke appeared, revealing Gamabunta once it was gone.

"**Damn what have you got yourself into Gaki?"**

"**Shukaku. Can you occupy him for a moment?"**

"**Of course." **Bunta said as he leapt forward in a blur, slamming into the large raccoon and knocking him off balance. **"Go now Gaki!"**

Naruto quickly leapt off of Bunta's head and onto the Shukaku, dodging the sand that tried to grab him as he rushed towards Gaara.

"**Rasengan!" **Naruto yelled out as he thrust the Rasengan into Gaara's chest. Gaara's eyes quickly shot open to the size of dinner plates before he was blown out of Shukaku's head.

"**No goddammit I just got out! It's too soon! I'll kill you for this Kurama!" **Shukaku yelled out as his body began to disintegrate.

"**See you later Gaki." **Bunta said before dispelling himself, now that his job was done.

Just as Gaara landed on the ground, Sasuke appeared with an unconscious Kankuro and Temari on his shoulders and sat them down.

"Shoo. I could feel this fight from miles away. Must have been fierce." Sasuke said with a grin under his mask.

"Yea, it was almost like 2 demons going at it." Naruto replied with a chuckle.

"No shit." Sasuke replied before laughing a bit.

"Lets get back to the village and mop up." Naruto said as they grabbed their prisoners and leapt off.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Genma shouted as he blew out a large fireball towards Baki.

Baki narrowly dodged the fireball before shouting. "Suna forces, retreat!" as he leapt out of the arena, followed by several other Suna nin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Katon: Karyuendan." Itachi said as he blew out a large stream of flames in the shape of a dragon, incinerating several more of the Suna and Oto shinobi as they tried to retreat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Katon: Gamyu Endan!" Jiraiya yelled out as Gamabunta blew a large stream of oil out towards the 3 large summon snakes. Jiraiya then hit the oil with a fireball and ignited it, burning all of the snakes and dispelling them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thirty-three!" Kakashi yelled out as he cut down another Suna jonin with his Chidori.

"Yosh! It seems you win this time my eternal rival! Thirty-two! Gai yelled as he smashed an Oto shinobi's head in with his fist just as they began to retreat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tora had just slashed down several Oto shinobi, and was turning to attack another group, when a fish masked ANBU sprang from the ground and grabbed him from behind, before stabbing him in the back of the head with a chakra scalpel. He never even knew what hit him.

"Excellent. With Orochimaru-sama taking down the old bastard, and the ANBU commander dead, the village will surely fall." The assailant said as he removed his stolen ANBU mask, revealing Kabuto, before he sunk back into the ground and disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Shiki Fujin!" Hiruzen yelled out as his shadow clones grabbed onto Hashirama and Tobirama. After he had the Edo-Hokages held, the Shinigami appeared behind him, with a spectral projection of Hiruzen handing on it's chest.

The Shinigami then thrust his arm through Hiruzen's chest, and the arm came out of the clones and took the souls of the Sho and Nidaime, while the arm came from the real Hiruzen and grabbed Oro.

"Damn you old man! I won't let it end like this!" Oro screamed out as he called his Kusanagi from behind Hiruzen.

Enma tried to grab the sword, but was bound by trees and didn't make it in time to stop it from halfway piercing Hiruzen's chest.

Hiruzen felt his life quickly fading, and knew he didn't have enough time to fully remove Oro's soul.

"I may not have killed you today, but I will take away what is most important to you! Your jutsu!" Hiruzen grunted out as the Shinigami pulled out Oro's soul-arms and cut them off with his sword, before disappearing.

"Damn you Sarutobi!" Oro screamed out as his arms turned a sickly black. "Drop the barrier we're leaving!"

The sound 4 quickly dropped the barrier and grabbed Oro before running off.

"It's been a good run Saru, I was honored to have known you."

"And I you Enma. Have a good…" Hiruzen said as his life faded away.

Just then Yugao and Zabuza showed up now that the barrier was down. "MEDIC!" Yugao screamed when she saw that Hiruzen was down.

"It's no use Neko, he used the Shiki Fujin, his soul was taken away." Enma said solemnly.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Sasuke arrived back in the village just as the Oto and Suna forces began to retreat, and went straight back to the stadium.

"Musu. Take these 3 to the prison." Naruto said as he and Sasuke handed over the 3 captives. "Kuma, report."

"Taichou." Kuma said with a bow. "We drove the forces away with minimal casualties on our side. An estimated loss of less than 40. Hokage-sama and Tora-Taichou were unfortunately part of those 40 though."

"Shit…" Naruto mumbled under his breath, trying to reign in his emotions. "I see… as you were." He then disappeared in a vortex of flames and reappeared in the Hokage's office to find Jiraiya already there with his head down on the desk.

Naruto took his mask off and walked closer to Jiraiya and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Ero-sennin, how are you?"

"I'm hanging on Ero-Gaki. How about you?"

"It's tough… He was like a grandfather to me ya know… the only person who cared for me for most of my life."

"I know… He was like a father to me too. It's gonna be hard but we have to stay strong, it's what he'd want."

"Yea. I don't want to insult Jiji's memory by pouting over it, we have to pull together and rebuild the village."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few days later

While the majority of the village has been working to rebuild and clean up, the council has been meeting often, trying to appoint the next Hokage. Naruto has been attending as the acting ANBU commander, with Jiraiya there in his seat as one of the Sannin, among the other clan heads; Shikaku Nara, Chouza Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, Shibi Aburame, Tsume Inuzuka, Asuma Sarutobi, Hiashi Hyuga, and Itachi Uchiha, and then the elders; Homura and Koharu.

"Okay once again I call this meeting of the Council of Fire to order." Itachi, as the head of the council, said. "On the topic of our Godaime Hokage, are there any nominations?"

"I nominate Jiraiya-sama. He is very capable for obvious reasons." Shikaku said.

"I refuse. I have too much business outside of the village that I have to keep up to be tied down."

"Troublesome."

"How about Itachi-sempai?" Naruto added in, earning a few nods from everyone.

"I refuse as well. I have too much on my plate trying to reestablish my clan and be the Jonin-commander as it is, much less be Hokage."

"Well then… who could it be?" Shikaku spoke up again.

"How about my old teammate Tsunade?" Jiraiya said.

"Hmm… I don't believe she would be right for the job either. She has been gone from the village for 15 years already going from town to town accumulating debts and causing trouble. She is too care-free to hold such office." Hiashi added in, earning nods from a couple of people.

"Kakashi Hatake?" Homura asked, earning laughs from Jiraiya, Itachi, and Naruto, with them earning funny looks from the rest.

"Shit that was good." Jiraiya said as he wiped a tear away. "Kakashi is strong, smart, and a good leader, sure, but he will be late for his own funeral. Being Hokage is too much responsibility for him."

"How about Naruto-kun?" Itachi added in out of the blue.

"Tha fuck?" Naruto said, causing Jiraiya to giggle a bit. Hiashi glared at Naruto while the rest of the council gave Itachi a look that said 'explain'.

"Naruto-kun has been an ANBU captain for over a year with a perfect success rate. All of his colleagues praise his abilities. And he is now on equal grounds with myself in terms of rank, as the ANBU commander."

"Don't you think I'm too young to be the Hokage?" Naruto asked.

"No, Sarutobi became Hokage at only thirteen; age makes no difference. The will of fire burns bright in you, and you are among the strongest in our village at only 12. The only ones here who can fight you on equal grounds are Jiraiya-sama, myself, and maybe Kakashi because he has years of experience."

"…" was all Naruto could get out.

"Do you accept the nomination?" Shikaku asked, ready to get this over with.

"I guess…"

"Fine, all in favor of Naruto becoming the Godaime?" Itachi said as everyone but Hiashi raised their hands.

"By a majority vote, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze is now the Godaime Hokage of Konoha. Congratulations Naruto-kun." Itachi said, smiling at the end.

"Wow… This is just a fucking dream. That's the only explanation. I must have got my ass kicked by Gaara. I could halfway handle ANBU commander, but I wont believe that I'm actually the Hokage." Naruto said.

"Believe it Ero-Gaki-_Sama._" Jiraiya said as he walked over and patted Naruto on the head before leading him to the head of the council.

"Now Hokage-sama, we must pick a new ANBU commander." Itachi said.

Naruto simply sat there and stared into space for a moment, letting things soak in, before he finally 'woke up'.

"Do you have any recommendations?"

"Aside from you, I believe the next best choice would have to be Tenzo. He has been a captain for a while and has a near perfect record, as well as impressive skills."

"Yea I remember Tenzo, he is very skilled with his Mokuton techniques. Okay then, I nominate Tenzo as the next ANBU commander." Naruto said, earning nods from everyone else after hearing his report. "I always saw Jiji-sama do this, I wonder if it is a inherited skill of the Hokage… Kuma." He said the first part to himself, but Jiraiya laughed a bit at hearing it as Kuma appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

"Wow. Kuma could you find Tenzo and bring him here please?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Kuma said as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Anything else you would like to discuss Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked.

"Itachi-sempai you don't have to do the honorific thing… you were once my commander, and my 'jonin-sensei'. But yes, Ero-sennin, though Tsunade wasn't a good choice for Hokage, what are the chances she would come back here to become the head of a new medic-nin corps?"

"Doubtful, but we can try."

"Okay then we will talk about that later. That is all I have for now."

"Very well, I make a motion that we adjourn." Shikaku said lazily, secretly happy that the mess was over and he didn't end up as the Hokage.

"I'll second that motion." Inoichi said.

"Very well, the meeting is now adjourned." Itachi said as everybody began to leave.

After a while, only Naruto, Jiraiya, and Itachi remained in the room.

"Congratulations again Gaki. You're the youngest Hokage in Konoha's history. Your dad would be proud of you."

"Thanks Ero-sennin." Naruto replied before smiling big. "You know, now that I'm the Hokage you can't call me Ero-Gaki anymore! Hah!."

"Sure I can, Ero-Gaki."

"Grr."

"Once again, congratulations Naruto-kun. How about you come for dinner at our house tonight, I'm sure mother would love to cook you a celebration dinner." Itachi said.

"Sure thing. Thanks Itachi-sempai."

"It's no longer Sempai, I'm your subordinate now, Hokage-sama."

"Oh yea… this is just too much to take in at once." Naruto said as he grabbed his head in mock pain, earning a laugh from Jiraiya and Itachi.

"It'll come in time Ero-Gaki."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Omake #1**

"It'll come in time Ero-Gaki. Now lets walk and talk, I've got some ideas id like to pitch to you."

"Sure thing, we can talk about it over ramen." Naruto said as he grabbed Jiraiya and they disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ichiraku ramen

Ayame and Tseuchi were sitting behind the counter, wondering who the next Hokage would be, when there was a yellow flash, revealing Naruto and Jiraiya.

"Hi there Jiraiya, Naruto-kun. What can I get for you today?"

"That's Hokage-kun to you now!" Jiraiya said proudly while pointing at Naruto.

"No shit?"

"Yea we just voted him in, now we are here to discuss new policies."

"Well congratulations, ramen is on the house for our Hokage-sama!" Tseuchi said as he and Ayame retreated to the back to start cooking.

"Well, Ero-Gaki, what I had in mind was…"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

3 days later

Naruto was walking through the streets in his newly fitted Hokage robes, alongside a pale looking Jiriaya.

The reason Jiraiya is pale you ask? Nosebleed. Lots and lots of nosebleed.

They continued walking for several minutes until they reached their destination- Ichiraku's. The pair folded back the curtain and walked inside to find Ayame taking orders, wearing nothing but a bikini bottom.

Naruto's nose began to flow blood out of it, while Jiraiya's bled so hard it rocketed him away to somewhere else in the village. Naruto smiled a bit as he sat down. "Damn I love being Hokage."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Flashback_

"_Well Ero-Gaki, what I had in mind was a new female dress code. As you know, the women around here dress far too conservatively."_

"_You're right Ero-sennin. Its time for a change! Starting tomorrow, all women must wear nothing more than a bikini! All women who choose to wear nothing will receive C-Rank mission pay daily!"_

"_YES MY DREAM COME TRUE!" Jiraiya shouted before fainting._

**The moral of the story: Don't elect an already perverted impressionable dictator.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter; I sure didn't. I feel like it didn't have a good flow, but i worked for a while and couldn't get it to look any better… so I hope yall like it better than me.**

**I'm sure some of you now hate me for making Naruto the Hokage already, but that's what I had in mind from the beginning. If you don't like it, refer to my complain department.**

**That's all I have, so review and flame me and all that good shit. Till next time.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Welcome back to all those who didn't rage quit when Naruto became the Hokage. I thank you for sticking around and not putting me to public execution. Hope you all enjoy.**

**Manga 639 spoiler below in disclaimer.**

**If I owned Naruto, Naruto would get the super rinnesharinbyakumokuhyotugan and become the Hyakubi (100 tails) Jinchuriki, and pwn the world with a blink of his eyes. Sadly this is not the case, so he will apparently have to be saved from his obvious death by the Plot no Jutsu. I mean really, Naruto is strong, but Obito pwned the 1****st****, 2****nd****, and 3****rd**** Hokages nigh instantly, so logically, he is dead now, but of course he can't die.**

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Currently, we find Mikoto, Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, and Jiraiya seated around the table in Mikoto's home eating a dinner fit for a king. A ramen loving king, but a king none the less.

"So Kaa-chan, what is the occasion for the dinner?" Sasuke asked, still not aware of Naruto's 'promotion'.

"It's a celebration of course!" Mikoto said in a sing-song voice, making Sasuke mock glare at her.

"What are we celebrating though?"

"Wellllllll… You'll see in a minute!" Mikoto had a smile on her face that said 'I know something you don't, nanner nanner boo boo'.

Sasuke gave up after that and the group ate and made small talk for a few more minutes, until Jiraiya dropped the bomb.

"Well Hokage-sama, don't you have something to say?"

"Hokage-sama?" Sasuke and Hinata both said while looking at Itachi.

Itachi simply chuckled and shook his head 'no'.

"_If Jiraiya said that, then it means it's not him. Itachi said no too, so that leaves…" _Sasuke thought.

"_Apparently it isn't Ero-sennin or Itachi-sensei, nor me or Sasuke-kun, so…" _Hinata thought at the same time as Sasuke.

"Naruto?!/Naruto-kun?!" Sasuke and Hinata yelled at the same time.

"Hey! That's Ero-Gaki-Sama to you now!" Jiraiya yelled out before finding himself on the floor with a knot on his head. "Bastard."

"So you're really the Hokage now Naruto?" Sasuke said with surprise evident on his face.

"Apparently so. I didn't agree but Itachi wouldn't take no for an answer." Naruto replied with a mock pout.

"You are the best person in the village for the job right now Naruto-sama. All you lack is experience, and what better way to get experience running a village than running the village. You've already made a name for yourself as an ANBU captain. Add in the fact that you are so young, and it's a winning combination."

"Thanks Itachi, if you call me –sama again, you're on gate duty for a month." Naruto said with a creepy smile, using Mikoto's 'sweet voice'.

"Hai. Sorry Hokage-ssss…Kun." Itachi said, causing everyone to sweat-drop.

"Much better." Naruto said, replacing the creepy smile with a real smile.

"Anyways, congratulations Hokage-kun. A toast for Naruto-kun, the Godaime Hokage!" Mikoto yelled out.

Everyone raised their glasses into the air.

"To a long and prosperous reign." Itachi said.

"To becoming the Daimyo because I won't lose to- OWWW! Long live the Godaime." Sasuke started before being slapped in the back of his head by his mother to correct his opinion.

"To a new kunoichi dress code!" Jiraiya yelled before Mikoto and Hinata pounced on him.

After an 'attitude adjustment, Mikoto and Hinata sat back down like nothing ever happened and smiled brightly.

"To the Godaime!" Everyone else chorused before they all drank their choice of drinks.

The party lasted on into the night, with everybody drinking themselves stupid and having fun.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A week later

Today was the day of Naruto's coronation, and to say he was nervous would be an understatement. He knew good and well that many people despised Naruto Uzumaki, even if they respected 'Kitsune' highly. He was worried that the people may begin to riot once he was announced, no matter how much everyone tried to tell him otherwise.

"5 minutes Ero-Gaki-sama." Jiraiya said as he walked in and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

"I'm worried they won't accept me Ero-sennin." Naruto replied.

"It's fine Kid, we're all here for you. Now I'm going out there to announce you, be ready."

Jiraiya opened the door leading out to the rooftop balcony of the Hokage tower, and the screams were almost deafening.

Jiraiya walked to the edge of the balcony, alongside Sasuke, Itachi, Hinata, Tenzo, the council, and several other ANBU guards.

"People of Konoha! It is with great pleasure that I present you all with the new Hokage! Please welcome-" just then, Naruto appeared beside Jiraiya in an extra showy vortex of flames. When the flames died down revealing Naruto in a coat similar to Minato's but light grey, almost silver with blue and red flames. Most of the people save for the younger ones did a double take as Naruto appeared. _"Yondaime-sama?"_

"Naruto Namikaze!" Naruto yelled out as his flames completely died down.

"_Namikaze? Yondaime had a son? No way? Isn't that the demon brat?" _Were some of the thoughts in the crowd as he announced himself.

"_Naruto-kun? What the fuck? I'm definitely going to rape the fuck out of him, Hinata or not!"_ Ino screamed inside her head as she saw him come out.

"_No. Fucking. Way. Him? He is a monster though… isn't he?" _A certain pink haired girl thought.

"Most of you may not recognize me; some of you may despise me as Naruto Uzumaki, the Kyubi Jinchuriki! Yes, I am the Kyubi Jinchuriki! My father sacrificed his life to seal the demon inside of me and make sure this village was safe! I am also Kitsune, ANBU captain. But that doesn't matter now… all that matters now is Naruto Namikaze.

The people's thoughts were flying all over the place now. _"B-but Naruto Uzumaki is the demon brat… but he is also an ANBU captain… and the Yondaime's son… wow…"_

"Rest assured, I have spent every day since my birth protecting this village, and I will do until I breathe my last breath." Naruto then paused for a moment.

"As you all know; just over a week ago our Sandaime, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was killed in battle. As a village, we must stay strong and honor his memory. Sarutobi-sama was a living example of the Will of Fire, the principle this village was built off of. He left a mighty big shoe for the next Hokage to fill, as did his predecessors and successor. It is hard to live up to the reputation of someone such as The Kiiroi Senko or The Kami no Shinobi, but the Council of Fire has chosen me to be the one! I swear on my Will of Fire, and everything that I am, that I will not only live up to their expectations, but I will break them! I will give my everything to ensure this village stays prosperous…" Naruto paused once again, and you could hear a pin drop amongst the crowd.

"Because I am the Godaime Hokage of Konoha!" He yelled out as flames began to swirl around him and dance into the sky.

Everyone was silent for just a moment as the speech sunk in, but suddenly a deafening roar erupted from the crowd, showing their support for their new leader. Of course some of the people were shouting in outrage, but they were drowned out by the cheers.

"Long live Naruto Namikaze, The Godaime!" Chanted the crowd.

"_Wow… they actually accept me…"_ Naruto smiled a bit as Jiraiya and Itachi came to his side, each laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Outstanding. I haven't heard a speech that gave me goosebumps and got a crowd that fired up since your dad was around." Jiraiya said as he patted Naruto on the back.

"Jiraiya had it right Naruto-kun, good job. I have no doubts that you will be the greatest Hokage yet."

"Thanks guys. I couldn't have done it without you two." Naruto's smile grew as he basked in the acknowledgement.

"Congratulations Hokage-kun." Hinata said as she hugged him from behind, causing him to blush a bit and freeze up.

"Hah, even the Hokage can be so easily beaten if one knows the right buttons to push." Jiraiya said as he and Itachi walked off laughing.

Naruto's surprise didn't last long, and of course he wasn't one to be beaten. Before Hinata could react, Naruto spun around, placing his face just an inch from Hinata's. Now the tables were turned as she blushed and froze in shock.

"Thank you Hina-hime. I couldn't have made it here without you." Naruto said before he kissed her on the lips passionately. Not that Hinata would know how passionate it was, she fainted at initial contact.

After Naruto had his fun, he carried her off to the side and sat her down before coming back over to the crowd, to a hail of congratulations from his ex ANBU brethren as well as the council minus Hiashi, who went to check himself into the hospital for a suspected stroke after seeing the demon-Hokage defile his ex daughter.

"You know Naruto, you're fucked up. You went from village pariah to academy student to ANBU to ANBU captain to genin to Hokage." Sasuke said as he walked over and patted Naruto on the back. "What's next, chunin?"

"No shit, definitely not normal." Naruto said as the pair laughed at their fucked up lives. "Who knows, in some fucked up world I may end up being something really off the wall, like supreme commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces or some shit."

"Yea probably. Hey man we have to spar tomorrow so I can say I kicked the Hokage's ass."

"You couldn't even _wipe_ his heinous' ass, much less kick it. Besides, I'm still busy as shit right now." Naruto replied with a smirk.

"His Heinous? Great, a fuckin power trip!" Sasuke said as he playfully punched Naruto in the arm.

Out of the blue, 4 ANBU appeared around Sasuke with weapons drawn. "Uchiha Sasuke, you are under arrest for assaulting the Hokage." One of them said.

"And I find you to be guilty, the charges will be…" Naruto paused for dramatic effect, and Sasuke had a genuine worried look on his face. "Public humiliation!" Naruto finished and pulled out a camera to record Sasuke's face while the ANBU all broke into laughter.

"Bastard." Sasuke muttered while glaring at Naruto.

"Hey! That's Bastard-sama to you now!" Naruto replied with a chuckle.

XXXXXXXXXXX

After Naruto's prank, they remained on the roof of the Hokage tower for a while, celebrating the new Hokage while a certain blonde haired girl had made her way through the crowd and was now waiting at the door.

Ino stood at the door for a couple of hours waiting for Naruto to come out, knowing that he would go to Ichiraku's after the coronation.

Finally, just as she expected, Naruto came out the door. She wasn't happy about the fact that Sasuke, Itachi, Jiraiya, and Hinata were with him as well though.

"_Goddammit why is _she_ with him. Grrr."_ Ino thought when she saw Hinata.

"Hey Ino-chan, how's it going?" Naruto said to her.

"Hey Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, Itachi-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Hinata." Ino replied, though nobody picked up on the slight cringe when she said 'Hinata'.

"We're going to Ichiraku's, wanna come?"

"Sure, it's not every day that a girl gets to go out with the Hokage." Ino said with an eerily sweet voice as she scooted closer to Naruto.

"_The fuck does this bitch think she's doing?" _Hinata thought as she tried to shoot death rays from her eyes at the blonde.

The group then departed towards their destination, never noticing the pink haired girl that was following them in the shadows.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

10 minutes later

The group arrived at Ichiraku's and wasted no time finding seats and placing their orders. Naruto got the newly named 'Hokage's Favorite' which consisted of endless miso ramen.

After a few moments of small talk, the food came out and everyone began to eat, when beforementioned pink haired girl made her appearance.

"Hey Naruto…" She said as she walked up to the table.

"_Hmm… who is this?" _Naruto thought, searching for memories of this girl. He finally found his one contact with her from back in the academy when he became friends with Sasuke.

"Sakura, right?"

"Mhm… Naruto, I just wanted to congratulate you on becoming the Hokage… and apologize for what happened back in the academy."

"Don't worry about it, I have been abused for most of my life. One more academy student wasn't going to deter me. Say, why didn't you graduate with this year's group anyways?"

"Well, some time after you and Sasuke-kun left, I realized that the only reason I had been in the program was because of him… But now I regret quitting, even if I don't have enough chakra to ever be a good kunoichi."

"I see… come to my office in the morning okay, I need to talk to you."

Sakura was confused at what he could want with her, but agreed none the less before leaving.

"What do you want with her gaki?" Jiraiya asked.

"She has pathetic reserves, even for an academy student, but she has low chunin level control. I'm going to see if she would like to enter the new medical division."

"I see, good thinking I suppose."

"Yep, the Hokage must always be vigilant and prepared for anything!" Naruto shouted with a smile, causing everyone to sweatdrop.

"Well Naruto-kun, it's late, I'm heading home." Hinata said before leaving via shunshin.

"And I'm going to catch the late night crowd at the hot springs!" Jiraiya said with a lecherous grin before he too shunshinned away.

"I guess I should go too, I have a busy day tomorrow. See ya tomorrow Sasuke, Itachi, Ino-chan." Naruto said as he stood up.

"See ya." Both Itachi and Sasuke said as they left via shunshin, leaving Naruto and Ino alone.

"_Wow I can't believe I ended up alone with him, this is like a dream!"_ Ino screamed giddily in her head.

Naruto went and paid off the bill before walking back to Ino. "Don't you think you should be getting back too before your parent's start to worry?"

"Oh it's no big hurry, they know where I am." Ino said as she started to drift closer to him. "You could walk me home if you want though, Hokage-kun." She purred out the last part, though it didn't make it past Naruto's thick head.

"Sure thing, let's go." Naruto said as he started to walk off, with Ino scrambling to catch up.

"So Naruto-kun, congratulations on becoming Hokage." Ino said.

"Thanks, I still can't believe it myself. But I will be the best Hokage this village has ever seen, that's a promise!"

"I believe you Naruto-kun" Ino had now slowly worked her way close enough to grab Naruto's arm.

"_What is she doing…"_ Naruto thought when she snaked her arm around his.

"Umm… What are you doing Ino-chan?"

"Just walking." She replied innocently.

"Why are you holding my arm though?"

"Do you not like it?" Ino then used the 'puppy eyes technique' on him "I can stop if you want."

"_Damn I don't wanna hurt her feelings…" _"No it's fine I guess."

"_Hah! Hook, line, and sinker!" _Ino mentally cheered.

"Thanks Naruto-kun." She said as she snuggled into his side.

"_Damn, I think I'm being taken advantage of." _Naruto mentally sweat dropped.

After a few minutes of walking in comfortable, or uncomfortable silence, depending on which one you asked, they arrived in front of Ino's home.

"Thanks for walking me home, is there any way I can repay you?" Ino said in her best sexy voice, before moving from his side to his chest, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"It's no problem Ino-chan, don't worry about it." He replied.

"Are you sure? I really wouldn't mind returning the favor." She cooed out as she started moving her face closer to his.

"No really, it's-" Naruto was cut off as Ino pressed her lips against his. Naruto was shocked, to say the least, at her sudden contact, but after a second he lost himself and began to kiss her back.

"Mmm Naruto-kun… You know, both of my parents are out tonight and won't be back until late." Ino purred out as they broke for air. "We could take this up to my room if you want."

"I don't think we should… I-" he was cut off as Ino kissed him again before leading him inside while he was 'distracted.

Ino skillfully directed him up stairs to her room while keeping his mind busy on other things. They made it inside her room and Ino locked the door before turning back to him.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, my parents won't be home for another few hours at least." Ino almost whispered as she snaked her hands up his shirt and began to rub his chest.

Naruto's warning bells were screeching at full force, but the chibi-perv in his head quickly destroyed them when she started rubbing his chest.

"I really shouldn't be-" he was once again cut off as she leaned forward and kissed his neck.

"Please Hokage-kun…" Ino replied as she leaned away once more and started pulling him towards her bed.

They reached the bed and she fell backwards, dragging him down on top of her. Naruto blushed deeply at the position they were now in.

"Mmmm." Ino purred out as she began to shimmy out of her shirt.

A trickle of blood escaped from Naruto's nose when he saw Ino's bare chest.

"I-I-Ino-chan…"

"Shhhh. Play with them." Ino said as she grabbed one of his hands and placed it on her breast.

"_Wow… wait I can't do this. It would devastate Hinata-chan."_ "Ino, stop. I can't do this." Naruto said as he pulled away from her and stood up.

"But Naruto-kun… do you not like what you see?" Ino replied as she stood up as well, squeezing her breasts together.

"It's not that… I just can't do this." Naruto said before turning away and disappearing in a small swirl of fire.

"Fuck! I was so close!" Ino yelled out in frustration once he was gone. _"I will succeed Naruto-kun, just wait."_

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto appeared on the street a ways away from Ino's house and quickly disappeared in a flash of yellow, reappearing on top of the Hokage monument.

"_I don't know what the hell came over me back there… she's pretty and all, but I think I love Hinata-chan… it isn't right… But then again, I'm not with Hinata-chan, so it's not so bad. Who am I kidding, I feel dirty. I'm sorry Hinata-chan."_ Naruto thought before disappearing in another flash of yellow and reappearing outside the Hokage tower where he quickly went to his office, and then his home, to find Hinata on the couch reading a scroll of some sort.

"Hey Naruto-kun." Hinata said, looking up from the scroll as he entered.

Naruto's only reply was to blur away and reappear right in front of her, before pulling her off the couch and into his arms in a hug.

Hinata blushed a bit, but remained conscious, wondering what was going on.

Naruto then released her from the hug, and quickly changed it to a passionate kiss. Hinata's blush went several shades darker, but she managed to remain conscious once more and return the kiss.

"W-what's the occasion, Naruto-kun?"

"Hinata-chan, I love you." Naruto almost whispered, before Hinata went limp in his arms.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Hope you enjoyed, and sorry for the long wait. The poll I had up is now closed, and there will be no harem. I do have another up now, so check it out and cast your votes if you wanna be heard.**

**I know some of you will hate me and pray for my death because of the Ino scene, but I've kinda implied that there would be a competition between the girls for the whole story, even though they won't both end up with him.**

**Also, if anyone would be interested in being a beta reader for this story, shoot me a message.**

**Nothing else to say here, so have a good day/week/month.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Welcome back once again. Nothing to say here, so enjoy.**

**I don't own shit.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Hinata-chan, I love you." Naruto almost whispered, before Hinata went limp in his arms.

"_All that work with Anko and Kurenai helped her confidence but I guess that _was_ kind of shocking."_ Naruto thought as he sat down on the couch and laid her head on his lap.

After a few minutes of sitting, Hinata began to stir before finally opening her eyes and blushing when she realized her position.

"N-Naruto-kun…"

"Hina-chan, I'm sorry but I felt like I had to say that… if you don't feel the same I under-" Naruto was cut off as Hinata leaned up and kissed him on the lips.

"Naruto-kun I l-love y-you too." She almost whispered after she broke the short kiss.

"R-really?" Naruto said softly, receiving a nod from Hinata.

"I pretty much always have. You were my first friend and you've always been so good to me, I couldn't help but fall for you… I've just been too scared to say anything because I wasn't sure if you felt the same."

The now couple sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Naruto decided to speak up again.

"Hah. I guess it's only normal, you've been living here and taking care of me for a few years already like you were my wife anyways. I don't know what I would've done without you."

"Yea I guess you're right." Hinata paused for a small giggle. "You are kind of helpless without me."

Naruto smiled at her "Hey I'm not _that_ bad!"

"Naru-kun, if it wasn't for me living here you would have ate ramen for 3 meals a day."

Naruto was then covered with a black anime depression cloud. "Yea you're probably right."

Hinata had to stifle a giggle at his antics. "Cheer up, at least we don't have to worry about that, do we?"

"Nope, and I'm glad of that." Naruto replied as he pulled Hinata into another kiss.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Next morning

"So Sakura, you still wish to be a shinobi?"

"Hai, but I don't have good enough reserves." Sakura replied, looking down at the floor.

"I may have a solution to that. I'm about to revamp our medic program, and I think you'd be a good candidate."

"You really think so?" Sakura asked, the excitement noticeable in her voice.

"Mhm. Myself and Jiraiya will be leaving the village later today to find Tsunade and return her here to head it up."

"Wow… you mean I'd get to study under one of the legendary Sannin?"

"Yes, provided Tsunade accepts you. The choice would be completely up to her in the end, so I'm giving you about a week until we get back to get yourself ready to impress her. You are dismissed."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Sakura said with a bow before leaving Naruto's office.

"Alright Jiraiya come on out." Naruto said before Jiraiya stepped out of the shadows.

"Well Ero-Gaki-sama, are you ready to go?"

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate you…" Naruto muttered under his breath. "Yea as soon as Itachi gets here I'm ready."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A few minutes later

"Thanks for covering for me Itachi, hopefully we should be back in a week or so."

"It's no problem, I don't mind running the village, I just can't do it full-time."

"Anyways, you know how to reach me if need be but I'm sure you can handle things." Naruto said as he turned to walk out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Another few minutes later, village gates

"So Ero-sennin, do you have any idea where to look for Tsunade at?"

"Not one hundred percent. All we know for sure is that she is in Hi no Kuni somewhere. I have a clue, but we'll just have to search for her."

"I see. I hope she isn't too difficult, I've heard of her attitude towards Konoha."

"Yea, me too…" Jiraiya shuddered at the thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

ANOTHER couple of hours later, random trading town

"Hey Ero-Gaki, why don't you go find us a room, I'm going to see if I can dig up anything on Tsunade. I should be back before too long." Jiraiya said as he and Naruto split up to do their own duties.

_"Hmm... I'm the fucking Hokage... How did I let him order me into a shit job like this?" _ Naruto thought as he walked into the nearest hotel.

"Hello sir, how may I help you today?" said the young clerk behind the counter.

"I'd like a room for the night please." Naruto replied.

"Certainly, is it just you?"

"No I'll need two beds please."

"Alrighty." The clerk turned to a rack of keys of behind her and grabbed a set. "Here you go, that'll be 120 ryo please."

Naruto pulled out a few ryo notes and handed them to the girl. "Thank you."

"Thank you, have a good night." The girl said with a smile as Naruto walked out of the lobby and towards his room.

It only took a few minutes for Naruto to reach the room and make his way inside, where he sat down on a couch and quickly fell asleep

XXXXXXXXXX

Unknown time later

Knock Knock Knock

"Grr,,, Dammit I didn't give Jiraiya his key." Naruto grumbled out as he stood up and walked over to the door, opening it without a care.

What Naruto saw woke him up rather quickly. "Well, it seems you're not who I expected. Why have you come here?"

"We just came to talk with you a bit, Naruto-_sama. _Said a large blue man.

"Oh and who might you two be?"

"I am Kisame Hoshigaki, and this is my partner, Raiga Kurosuki. We are both formerly members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and now we are members of Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, we are a group of S-Rank missing nin from all across the country. Now then, would you like to come with us the easy way, or the hard way?" Raiga said as both he and Kisame put their hands on the hilts of their swords.

"What business does this Akatsuki have with me?" Naruto asked

"Why would I tell you that?" Kisame said as he and Raiga drew their blades. "I guess you're choosing the hard way?"

Naruto simply drew his sword, making Kisame grin widely.

"I fucking _love_ the hard way!" Kisame yelled as he sliced downwards towards Naruto.

Naruto jumped back to avoid the slash that just ripped a hole in the floor where he was standing, before having to parry a strike from Raiga, though the force knocked him back several feet anyways.

"Ah shit!" Naruto muttered under his breath before having to dodge another slash from Kisame.

"Hold still Gaki! I promise it won't hurt, MUCH!" Kisame shouted maniacally.

Just as Naruto regained his balance, he had to step back once more to avoid a slash from Raiga.

Raiga's attack left him off balance just a bit, giving Naruto enough time to form a Rasengan and thrust it towards him. Raiga managed to twist his body just in time to avoid taking the Rasengan to the chest, but wasn't able to dodge completely, as the ball of chakra still grazed his shoulder and blew him back into a wall.

"Well done Gaki, not many people alive are good enough to even land a hit on Raiga." Kisame said as he appeared in front of Naruto mid swing.

Naruto was able to get his sword up in time to block, but it only slowed down Samehada long enough for him to leap back before breaking.

_"Shit... I'm in some serious trouble here!" _ Naruto screamed in his head.

Kisame quickly appeared in front of Naruto, swinging his sword down to incapacitate the young Hokage, when a new voice called out "Rasengan!"

Just before Kisame's attack landed, Jiraiya appeared beside him and thrust a Rasengan into his chest.

"Shit. Raiga, let's go for now, we can't defeat them both at once!" Kisame and Raiga then ran out of the room and into the hallway, bent on escaping.

"Not so fast. Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari!" Jiraiya yelled out as the walls of the hallway turned into a pink fleshy material.

"This is the esophagus of a great toad from Mount Myobaku, its walls are impenetrable; no one has ever escaped this technique before!

"There's a first time for everything!" Raiga yelled before touching his two swords together. "Rairyu!"

A large ball of lighting formed between Raiga's blades before launching out and blasting a hole through the side of the toad wall, allowing himself and Kisame to jump through and escape.

"I-Impossible... No one has ever broken out of here before..." Jiraiya muttered out in disbelief.

"Shit… I guess you've never used it on a S-Rank missing nin before huh?"

"…"

"Dammit. Well they're gone now… I'm going back to bed, see ya in the morning." Naruto said before walking back into the room and to his bed, quickly falling asleep.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Next morning

"So, did you find anything about Tsunade last night?" Naruto asked Jiraiya as they ate breakfast.

"Nothing good, she was here a few days ago for a night. We'll just have to move to the next town and keep trying."

"Great… This is gonna take forever." Naruto sighed before getting up from the table and getting dressed, followed shortly after by Jiraiya.

Once the pair was packed and ready to go, they set out towards the next town to begin their search anew.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several days later

"Woo… someone sure did a number here. Looks like we found Tsunade." Jiraiya said as they stumbled upon a destroyed castle in Tanzaku town.

"Yea, she's definitely been here recently. Now I guess we just have to search the bars and casinos until we find her."

The pair then set out on their mission, and searched through the local 'adult establishments' until it was almost dark.

"Goddammit! Is she invisible or something?!" Naruto screamed in frustration. "I'm starved let's stop in here and grab something to eat."

Jiraiya and Naruto turned and entered the restaurant and started towards a booth near the back when Jiraiya yelled out "Tsunade?"

"What. The. Fuck. Really? A restaurant of all places?" Naruto mumbled out.

"Jiraiya? What are you doing here?" Tsunade said before motioning for Naruto and Jiraiya to have a seat.

Once Jiraiya and Naruto were settled in, Tsunade spoke up again. "So, who's the gaki?" she pointed at Naruto, making him growl.

"This is Naruto Namikaze. Minato and Kushina's son."

"Huh… I thought he died in the Kyuubi attack…"

"No, we just didn't want to reveal his identity due to the number of enemies Minato had."

"I see, that makes sense I guess. Anyways, what brings you two here?"

"Well, we were actually looking for you. We need you to come back to the village."

"No."

"Come on, we need you back. It's been twenty years, do you still hold a grudge?"

"Yes, that place has no happy memories for me. I'm not gonna come back there and replace Sarutobi."

Now Naruto decided to speak up. "Actually-"

"I mean, what kind of fool would want to be the Hokage!"

Naruto started to get angry now. "You're-"

"Look at the past Hokages, Sarutobi is the only one who lived past 40, and he still got killed. Only an idiot would be-"

"Dammit listen to me!" Naruto yelled out, stopping her speech.

"Who the fuck do you think you are talking to me like that?!" Tsunade screamed out as she stood up and glared at Naruto.

Naruto jumped up and glared back. "I'm the fucking-"

"I don't care who you are, no one talks to me like that! You wanna settle this outside?!"

"I don't think that's a good idea Tsunade." Jiraiya said.

"I won't hurt him too bad, but someone needs to put this brat in his place!"

"But… Okay whatever." Jiraiya said with a sigh as the two blondes walked out into the street.

"Hey brat, I'll tell you what, I'll only use one finger to kick your ass, just to make it fair."

"This is bad…" Jiraiya sighed once again.

"Don't worry; she won't hurt him too bad." Shizune added in helpfully.

"It's not Naruto I'm worried about."

"Confident aren't you Baa-san? Alright how bout we make a bet?" Naruto said with a smirk.

"Granny? I'll kill you for that! But you've hit my soft spot with that bet, what are the terms?"

"I beat you, you come back to Konoha, and give me that necklace you're wearing; you beat me, we leave you alone and I'll give you all of the money I have on me. You can even use everything you've got."

"Deal. Go!"

"Tsunade you can't bet your necklace!" Shizune shouted from the sidelines as Naruto blurred out of sight. "She's in trouble isn't she?" She added on quietly, to which Jiraiya just nodded with a grin.

"_Damn this kid is fast… No matter, he's no match for me._" Tsunade thought as Naruto appeared in front of her with his fist cocked back.

He launched the punch at Tsunade's face, and though she managed to get her arm up and block it, the force blew her several feet backwards.

"Hmm, impressive for a gaki!" She said as she leapt back towards him intent on ending the fight with a single punch.

Imagine Tsunade's surprise when Naruto not only caught her punch, but she saw the spiraling ball of chakra in his other hand. "Shit!" She yelled out as Naruto uppercut the ball into her stomach, launching her up into the air

"T-Tsunade…" Shizune stuttered out while Jiraiya just grinned.

Naruto, knowing that she was a Sannin and that something so simple wouldn't end her, pulled a three pronged kunai from his coat and threw it up into the air and past her.

"Hah! Dumb luck that you hit me! You can't even throw a… Wait, SHIT!" Tsunade realized what happened just as she saw a yellow flash behind her, accompanied with a large pain in her back, courtesy of an axe kick from Naruto.

Tsunade's body crashed into the ground hard, kicking up a dust cloud that covered the street.

When the cloud of dust cleared, Naruto was standing over Tsunade with his kunai at her throat.

"H-How…" Tsunade mumbled out.

"H-He just annihilated Tsunade-sama…" Shizune uttered.

"Yep. I tried to warn her." Jiraiya said with the same old grin on his face.

"Well Gaki… I'm a woman of my word… I suppose I'll come back and be the Hokage."

"Would you listen for once you old hag?! We don't want you to be the Hokage!" Naruto yelled out, turning around so Tsunade could see the kanji for 'Fifth' on the back of his coat.

"Oh…" She muttered, feeling like she was 4 inches tall. "So why do you want me to come back?"

"To be the head of a new combat medic program."

"Oh… that makes sense... But wait… you're like 12, how are you the Hokage?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me. It was between Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi, Jiraiya, You, and me; for some reason or another I ended up with the job.

"Anyways, we need to get to bed where we can leave out in the morning." Jiraiya said as he walked over and helped her out of the crater she was laying in.

"Actually, since I'm going back to Konoha, I have some news…"

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Well, heres another one. Hope you all enjoyed.**

**My poll is still up for now, but will close when I release the next chapter; so if you wanna be heard, go vote.**

**I don't suppose I have anything else to say, so until next time: Speak softly and carry a Glock.**


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